Konoha's Orange Maelstrom
by LazyPsycho544
Summary: What happens when a 10-year old Naruto accidentally knocks himself out and meets his 'guest' earlier than he was supposed to know? The consequences were not what anyone had ever imagined.
1. Chapter 1

**I do NOT own Naruto.**

In the Narutoverse, there were many

things that could have happened differently.

What if Naruto met the Kyuubi earlier than before? What if Kurama decided to give his jailer a chance to prove himself worthy of his partnership? What if Naruto succeeded? Follow Naruto on his adventures!

 **a/n-** um….. Hello thank you for taking your time to read my story.

I am trying to keep this story as r close to reality as possible but that doesn't mean that I will write everything exactly like in canon. In this story, Naruto will not be OP. I feel that OP Naruto stories get kinda boring after some time. So, sorry folks, no Naruto giving Madara a run for his money. And, no, Sasuke will not be a jackass like many fanfics have portrayed him. I guess the only person in Konoha who will be an ass would be Danzo.

I am very surprised by how many fanfics portray Danzo, Fugaku, Hiashi and Saki as stupid asses. Or maybe I had been reading the wrong fics.

I hope that you like my first fanfiction:)

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 1**

Ten year old Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato was not the type of person who likes to lose.

However that was all that he seemed to do. Lose. Today he was matched up with one Uchiha Sasuke, the so called 'last Uchiha', for sparring at the academy. And Naruto lost. Again.

Naruto just couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He would always train his arse off but still he never was able to defeat the last Uchiha.

Naruto did however beat him once, using his patented **Oiroke no Jutsu**. Even though it didn't really count as a victory, it was worth dying to see the Uchiha' face as he flew back because of the flow of blood from his nose and was left on the floor gaping like a fish. However Sasuke's fanclub didn't let this go unanswered as they proceeded to chase Naruto, who, luckily found protection in the form of Iruka-sensei. Naruto still has bouts of laughter when he remembers that incident.

Anyhow, today he was beaten by his rival as he most often did, and Naruto was really frustrated. After class was over for the day, he rushed to a clearing he often trained in.

The clearing was very relaxing place by the banks of a small river. The place was surrounded by woods on all the other sides. And there in the middle of the clearing was our blond hero, wearing a black T-shirt that had a red spiral in the front a bit above his stomach and blue trousers going a bit below his knee, and wearing the green goggles that were his trademark. (Apart from the whiskers on his cheeks.)

' _Why do I always have to lose? I train so hard almost everyday that I doubt even Iruka-sensei trains as much as I do. Why can't I win? Urhg! This is so frustrating!'_

And so, Naruto proceeded to practice ,first with shuriken and kunai (which were blunted of course) on the trees surrounding his clearing and then practised his academy ninjutsu. He was practically a master of the **Henge no Jutsu** and he was starting to get the hang of the **Kawarimi**. But the technique that always eluded him was the **Bunshin no Jutsu**. No matter how hard he tried he never got the hang of it. All he would get were some floppy, dead clones that seemed to have come from the undead. He tried and tried for hours until the sun started to get low in the horizon. He had about an hour of sunlight left. By now Naruto was getting a bit tired and had blown off most of his frustration.

In an alternate timeline, Naruto would have given up and decide that he would cheer himself up with some ramen at Ichiraku's and thus lead to events happening just as in canon.

But not in this timeline. Here Naruto was convinced that the only way he was going to sleep that night was if he could assure himself that he had trained as hard as he could. And so, he proceeded to continue training with his kunai throwing. However about 20 minutes into this extended session, he heard some rustling in the bushes.

On instinct he threw the blunted kunai at whoever was there.

"Ouch!" someone screamed. Although the voice did sound familiar…. All he could tell was that it was a girl at about his age.

"Who is that?" Naruto asked.

Then he heard the sound of the mystery girl running away into the woods.

"Hey! Wait! Why were you spying on me? Stop! I promise I won't hurt you!"

Saying this he gave chase to the intruder. The intruder was very fast, to make Naruto, who even people who called themselves 'ninja' had trouble catching, run at his top speed. This intruder was obviously training to be a ninja. He ran and ran and ran at all the speed he could muster. For someone not yet a ninja to run this fast after being hit by a kunai (although a blunted one) was nothing short of astonishing.

After several minutes of chasing, he finally caught a glimpse of the person he was chasing.

' _Wait a minute, isn't that-'_

His thoughts were interrupted by a very strong tree hitting his head hard. Very hard. In fact, he could have sworn he heard something crack.

"Ouwwch!" He let out a feeble cry, hoping against hope that the girl he was chasing would hear him, as he faded into unconsciousness.

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A few minutes later Naruto woke up from his self induced unconsciousness.

"Man, that hurt!" He groaned, getting up while rubbing his head. Then it hit him (no pun intended). Something was amiss here. Well, everything was amiss actually. He apparently woke up in a sewer. He wondered if he was dragged in here by his 'intruder' to get revenge on him, but that didn't quite add up. Why it didn't add up? He didn't know.

' _Well, if I got in here, there must also be some way out.'_ And Naruto set off trying to find an exit.

A few minutes later he found out two things-

1, there was no human there other than him.

2, the only thing that happened to be there was **big**. Very **big**.

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 **Henge no Jutsu** – Transformation Jutsu

 **Kawarimi no Jutsu** \- Substitution Jutsu

 **Bunshin no Jutsu** \- Clone Jutsu

 **Oiroke no Jutsu** \- Sexy Jutsu

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Hope you liked the first chapter!

So, Naruto is going to meet Mr. You-Know-Who. And I bet it is glaringly obvious who the 'intruder' was.

Please drop in a review and tell me what you think!

I will try to post the next chapter as soon as I can! That is a promise of a lifetime! (Wait, where did I here this before…?)


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n-** Thank you soon much for the support you have all given me! It warms my heart to know that some of you did like my story! I will try not to disappoint anyone! Now, on with the story!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

**Chapter 2**

Naruto could not believe his eyes.

A few minutes ago he was practising his kunai throwing, to relieve his frustration on losing to Sasuke (again). Now, he was staring at the face of a huge beast behind bars.

It didn't make any sense to Naruto.

' _Why is such a big beast in these sewers? Is it a prison of some sort? How did it even get here? More importantly, how did I get here?'_

Naruto then took a closer look at the beast. Apparently, it was sleeping. It was huge fox with orange fur, what seemed to be black eyeliner around it's eyes, and most importantly a lot of tails. From there, Naruto could make out about 8, no, 9 tails. That was when it struck him.

' _Wait a minute! Nine tails? As in the Kyuubi? But I thought Iruka-sensei said that the yondaime hokage defeated it! How is this possible?'_

Now, Naruto was really confused. Why on earth was he with the Kyuubi that was supposed to have been killed? That was when it struck him.

' _Ah, I am such a fool this is obviously a dream!'_

And with that Naruto _tried_ to wake up.

' _Huh? Why can't I wake up?'_

He tried willing himself to wake up, but he couldn't do that. Then he tried pinching himself. That was when he realised that this was no dream. Because it hurt. A lot.

' _Oh crap! This isn't a dream?! But if this is real then where am I?'_

That was when he realised something big. Something that was really unnerving.

' _Wait a minute! The Kyuubi is supposed to be dead. But if this is real, then it means... that... I... am dead!'_

That conclusion really broke him. He was dead? He couldn't believe it, but he had to. Uzumaki Naruto, future hokage of Konohagakure no Sato dead, by cracking his head in a tree of all things! He wouldn't have minded if he was killed by some big supervillain while protecting the village, but this was just ridiculous!

He then just stood there for this to sink in. He was on the verge of tears. He was never going to see... wait, he had no real friends. Just hokage-jiji, and to a lesser extent Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji. No one was really going to miss him.

' _So... This is the afterlife... Being trapped with a demon fox... I wonder if this has something to do with the village calling me a 'demon'... Well... No use pondering over the past... Looks like I am stuck with the Kyuubi for eternity... Might as well make the best out if this... I don't want to be sulking for the rest of my afterlife... I'll try talking to the Kyuubi. Maybe it was also getting bored, all alone for ten years. Besides, maybe he may even know if there is someone else here.'_

And with that, he tried to strike up a conversation with his only companion.

"H-Hello K-Kyuubi-san. N-Nice to meet you."

Naruto mentally cursed himself. He was stuttering like that girl Hinata! Speaking of Hinata-

Suddenly, the Kyuubi's eyes opened. It began studying Naruto as he stood there, shivering in front of the ancient beast.

It was a bit surprising to see Naruto got here so early in his life. He expected Naruto to come after he at least made genin and faced a few life and death situations. Apparently, that tree must have hit his head really hard for him to get here. However, he was surprised by the honorific used by Naruto.

' _ **Kyuubi-san, eh? Might as well play along with him. It sure was boring to just sit here in this damn seal.'**_

Thinking this, he decided to entertain the boy.

" **What do you want gaki?"**

"I-I am Uzumaki Naruto. D-do you know i-if anyone else is h-here?"

At this, the Kyuubi burst out laughing.

Naruto felt a bit insulted by this. He was just asking a question. It shouldn't make fun of him like that. After all, he was new to the afterlife.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?"

The Kyuubi laughed even louder. Naruto just stood there waiting for the laughter to die down. After all, he didn't want to anger the demon fox who destroyed half of his village.

After the Kyuubi calmed down he asked-

" **I am quite surprised that my prisoner is so stupid and dumb."**

"Hey, I take offence to th- wait, what do you mean 'prisoner'?"

" **Ah, it seems I have much to explain... Now, gaki, listen carefully. I don't want to explain this again. I am sealed within you."**

All Naruto could manage was a "Huh?"

" ***Groan* Looks like I have to tell you everything from the beginning. Your father was the yondaime hokage, Namikaze Minato and your mother was Uzumaki Kushina, my second container, successor of Uzumaki Mito, my first container, who was the wife of the shodaime. Got all of that?"**

Naruto just stood there mouth wide open, with a look of disbelief.

" **I'll take that as a yes. Moving on, on the day you were being delivered, a masked man attacked your mother right after child birth, since the seal which holds me weakens during childbirth. Then he... You know what gaki, long story short, He released me, took control over me, made me attack your damn village, then the yondaime intervened, he sealed half of me into himself and half of me into you with a suicidal fuuinjutsu of some sort since it is impossible to kill me."**

The Kyuubi then waited for Naruto to recover from the shock of being bombarded with so much information. He knew that the ten year old was trying to get his head around all of this.

After a bit, Naruto finally found his voice to ask a question that had been nagging at him.

"What happened to my mother?"

" **Oh, she was impaled by my claw while she tried to protect you from me trying to kill you. I was sick of being stuck in this seal all these years. I didn't want to be stuck in this damn seal again. It surprises me how my siblings cope with this. Besides, she was going to die soon anyway. No one has ever survived a bijuu extraction."**

Naruto was shattered hearing this. His eyes were welling up with tears. Standing in front of him was the beast that killed his mother. He was seething with anger until some parts of the revelation hit him.

 _" **I was sick of being stuck in this seal all these years. I didn't want to be stuck in this damn seal again."**_

 _" **Besides, she was going to die soon anyway."**_

That was when Naruto's anger was replaced by sadness and a bit if sympathy for the Kyuubi. Being called a demon by almost everyone had given him the ability to sympathize with people. And if he was hated for containing the demon, he could not even imagine what it would be like being the demon. He then finally spoke, while wiping his tears-

"I... I understand K-Kyuubi-san... I would also have done the same thing... If I were you..."

The Kyuubi was taken aback by this. He didn't expect this. He did expect the initial anger, but this response completely shocked him.

' _ **Maybe this one is going to be different.'**_

" **Gaki, you intrigue me. This is the first time a mortal has ever sympathized with me... Well, a mortal other than my father..."**

"Wait! You have a father? And what was it about siblings you were talking about?"

" **Like I'm going to tell you that! You know what? If You can prove yourself worthy of being my container, I will tell you all about them and give you my full power. Something tells me that you will be different from everyone else who tried to control me."**

Naruto was shocked by this. The great Kyuubi no Kitsune, was going to lend all of his power to him?! At first, he was a bit hesitant, since he had almost destroyed Konoha, but then again, he was under control of that masked man. But then, a possibility struck him...

"Kyuubi-san, I would like to prove myself worthy of being your container, but how do I know that you were telling me the truth?"

The Kyuubi had seen this question coming.

" **You can ask that hokage-jiji of yours to satisfy your doubts. As for the being controlled part, I have no proof, but you have my word, and I do have my honour. I have no need for lying to a mortal like you!"**

Naruto made a mental note to ask hokage-jiji to verify this, and he also decided to trust the Kyuubi. After all, why would he lie to someone like him.

"Kyuu-"

" **Stop calling me that gaki."**

"Kyuubi-sama?"

" **That is not what I meant! I have a name you know. I am fed up of being called 'Kyuubi' by everyone"**

"And what is your name?"

" **Kurama."**

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All right! Now Naruto is suddenly going to become so powerful that Sasuke is going to cry right? Wrong! As I said in the first chapter, no Naruto is not going to be OP.

I hope this feels realistic to you all and I know there may be a few questions in your mind.

Oh, and sorry if it felt a bit rushed. This is my first fanfiction, so I hope you understand.

Why can't Naruto wake up?

Well, that's because he was unconscious, had hit his head hard, and the mindscape is a really f'd up place. I still can't get my head around the mindscape, like, how did Sasuke get inside Naruto's mind when they first met in shippuuden? Was he copying any Jutsu from the Yamanaka clan? Who knows?

How did he get there in the first place?

I think hitting a very hard tree while running at full speed as a ninja in training and cracking your head a bit qualifies as a situation where Naruto can get to his seal mindscape.

Is Kurama getting a bit soft?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Kurama was explaining everything to Naruto because he was bored and decided to have some fun with the blond. I think I kept all the reactions realistic enough though.

How is Naruto going to prove himself worthy?

Ha! Like I'm going to tell you that before the next chapter!

Oh, and I watch the subbed version of Naruto, So I am sorry if you didn't quite get what I meant here are some of the words you need to know if you are watching the subbed version-

 **Warning- May not be exact meaning**

 **Yondaime-** fourth

 **Shodaime-** first

 **Sama-** honorific to show respect to your master

 **San-** Honorific to show respect

 **Jiji-** Geezer

 **Kyuubi-** Nine-tails

 **Kitsune-** fox

 **Fuuinjutsu-** sealing arts

 **Gaki-** brat

Please let me know what you think of this chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n-** Hello! Get ready for chapter 3

But before that there are a few issues I want to address-

I did say Naruto is not going to be OP, but, he will be stronger than in canon, but not too strong, the reason for which will be clear by the end of the next chapter. I did not know that there were some people looking forward to a non OP Naruto.

Also, I know the chapters are short but, hopefully, I can make up for it with my update speed. Now I am starting to realise some of the difficulties faced by writers and I have not even scratched the surface.(T_T)

Oh, I kept you waiting long enough, let the chapter begin!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 3**

One hour ago, if you told Uzumaki Naruto that he would try to befriend the beast that killed his parents, which happened to be sealed in his stomach, he would have dismissed you as crazy, insane or senile.

But that was exactly what was happening now.

"So... Kurama... How do I prove myself to be a worthy container?"

" **Hmm... Let me see... Ah! For a start, you can defeat that hokage-jiji of yours! Then I will approve of you as a worthy container."**

"Do you promise?" Naruto asked with an uncanny smile.

Kurama had meant that as a joke and was about to correct him, but then he had second thoughts.

' _ **Hmm... The gaki seems quite confident... It would be funny seeing him pummelled by that geezer... But then again, I wonder if the geezer would accept the challenge...'**_

' _ **If the gaki does win by a one in a million, no, make that one in a billion chance, I would try to wake up from the genjutsu. I don't even think I could see him win even in a genjutsu!'**_

" **All right gaki, you have my word."** Kurama said, not even giving a shit about the possibility of Naruto winning.

However, Naruto's smile widened exponentially, until it got straight out creepy.

' _ **I don't like that look on his face...'**_

"All right! Hey, wait but how do I get out of here?"

" **Try to wake up gaki."**

"But I already tried that!" Naruto whined.

" **Try it again, last time you tried, your brain was still recovering from the concussion you received. Now you should be able to get out if you try to wake up."**

"Hmm... hmm **..."** Naruto said, as if he were some sage trying to find the meaning of the riddle leading to Mt. Myouboku. (Which no one has deciphered yet. At one point, someone even suggested that it was some gibberish written by someone as a prank, but that idea was dismissed.) "Hey, wait, what is a concession?"

" **Not concession baka! Concussion! All you need to know is that your head got screwed up OK!?"** Kurama shouted. It amazed him to no end that he, one of the most shrewd creatures in the shinobi world would have such a dumb container.

"All right all right calm down! No need to shout like that dattebayo!" Naruto said while nursing his poor eardrums.

"OK, I'm leav-"

" **Wait Naruto, I should tell you this before you go or else this will cause problems in the future. To get back here, all you need to do is meditate and concentrate. You don't seem eager to go through life and death situation just to get here right?"** Sure it would be amusing to Kurama to see what Naruto would try but he didn't want to risk both of their lives when there was a simple shortcut.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Iruka-sensei should have something about that. So, bye Kurama! I'll be seeing you very soon, after I defeat hokage-jiji."

Kurama couldn't help but smirk at the boy's over confidence. Well, now he can just wait and watch what unfolds.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Naruto woke up, he expected to see the evening sky and maybe some trees.

What he didn't expect was to nearly get blinded by bright light as soon as he opened his eyes. When his eyes adjusted to the light he could make out that he was in some room with white walls, with a distinct smell of medicine, and he was lying on a bed. And his head hurt like hell! He did experience a bit if pain while he was with Kurama in that strange place, but now, it hurt twice as much. After he got a bit used to the pain, he groaned when it dawned on him where he was. Konohagakure's hospital! Where else?"

"Ah, Naruto-kun! You finally woke up!"

Naruto's head spun to where that voice came from, and he was pleasantly surprised.

"Hokage-jiji! I was going to search for you! Hey, umm... how did I get here?"

"Naruto-kun, you were brought here by somebody who claimed go have found you unconscious in the woods. What happened there?" Hiruzen asked, with a bit of concern evident in his voice.

"Well... umm... I kind of hit my head against a tree while running." Naruto said in a sheepish tone while getting up.

"Naruto-kun, please do be careful when you are training. Why were you even running in the woods? You should have been training in an open area." Hiruzen said with a light scolding tone.

Naruto was about to respond when he remembered something.

' _Ah, I almost forgot, I need to verify Kurama's tale (no pun intended). After that I need to beat jiji."_

"Well, I happened to meet a certain fox there."

Naruto caught a slight flinch from the old hokage that he would have missed if he wasn't looking out for it.

"Oh! And what happened?" Hiruzen asked in a slightly nervous tone. Naruto was not supposed to know about his burden until he became genin. As of now, he lacked the mental strength to swallow the truth. Or so Hiruzen thought.

"Oh, we chatted, he told me how he was trapped in a cage over all these years, who my parents were, how he killed my parents while they protected me and this village, and he would give me all of his power if I defeated you." Naruto said with a slight smirk on his face.

Hiruzen was trying to maintain his composure while he was sweating like a lot of people do when they are caught for doing something really bad.

"Naruto I can exp-" Hiruzen was cut off by Naruto.

"Hokage-jiji, I challenge you to a battle!"

"-lain?" Hiruzen completed his cut off sentence in a more than confused manner.

"Naruto please try to under-" Hiruzen was cut off yet again.

"If you want me to forgive you for keeping such a big secret from me, you need to battle me!"

Hiruzen realised it was a lost cause trying to argue with Naruto.

' _Well, might as well get this over with.'_

"Fine Naruto, come with me then."

Saying this Hiruzen went out of the room followed closely by Naruto. They walked for a few minutes inside the hospital, climbing the stairs. Eventually, they reach their destination, the rooftop of Konoha's Hospital.

It was a full moon night with relatively well illuminated sky for 8pm. The rooftop was lined with quite a few clotheslines there but there were no clothes hanging on them. There were also two water tanks above the staircase they had entered from. There was also some wire mesh surrounding the rooftop so that no on falls off. Hiruzen knew that this battle won't get too messy, 5 seconds at most, after all, it was academy student vs kage.

So they stood there facing each other.

" **Something tells me I'm going to enjoy watching this kage vs not-even-genin fight."** Kurama said to himself from within the seal, relaxing and waiting for the show to begin.

That was when Hiruzen said "Hajime!"

Then, Hiruzen saw Naruto going through a set of hand seals. Wanting to see how far Naruto had progressed, he waited for Naruto to complete his Jutsu. If he wanted to, Hiruzen could have ended the match before Naruto could even raise a finger. However, allowing Naruto to complete his Jutsu was one of the biggest mistakes Hiruzen ever made.

Naruto finally shouted out " **Kawarimi no Jutsu!** "

Hiruzen was confused by this. The Kawarimi had no application as an offensive Jutsu, it only had it's offensive applications if you got a bit creative. The Kawarimi, although an academy ninjutsu had been used by countless Genin, Chuunin, even some Jounin to evade otherwise unavoidable attacks.

However Naruto is of the highest level of creativeness you can get.

Instead of being replaced by a log, there in front of him was a really beautiful lady almost completely naked, looking as if she had just taken a bath.

Hiruzen could not stand this anymore. And so, he rocketed backwards in a huge stream of blood from his nose.

On hearing the commotion, the lady, who was moments ago, blissfully unaware of her surroundings a few seconds ago, while preparing to take a bath in her hospital room, became suddenly aware that an old pervert had passed out because of nosebleed because he had caught a glimpse of her 'assets'.

The angry lady proceeded to let Hiruzen have a piece of her mind. Hokage or just an old pervert, it was plain wrong to use their powers to have a look at a woman's 'assets'.

As the angry young lady was beating up the poor old hokage, a broom that happened to be on the roof was replaced by a blond 10 year old with whisker marks.

' _Oops, I guess I went a bit too far there. But I won the battle! And I found my new favourite Jutsu!'_

In a seal, a certain kitsune was found banging his head on his cage.

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I got you there didn't I? You were all expecting Naruto to the **Oiroke no Jutsu** weren't you? I decided to use **Kawarimi** instead. I feel that the **Kawarimi** was one of the Jutsu that had so much potential, but never got the light of day after the first few episodes in the series. Now, It's all about spamming **Susan'o** and **Rasengan**.

You may be thinking how on earth will a 10 year old Kurama Chakra Mode Naruto not be OP right? I believe your answer will be in the next chapter. (I am so evil aren't I?(Insert evil laughter here) Then again maybe not. I will update soon enough. Or maybe not!(Insert more sinister evil laugh here)

Anyway, see you all soon.

And keep those reviews coming


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n-** Hey there! Prepare for the next chapter!

Also, I think the length of the chapters are going to increase 1 or 2 chapters later. You see, my vacations Monday. So, I can dedicate more time for writing for a bit longer than a month. Again. The reasons why I kept the first few chapters short were- 1) To know what all of you think about my story and, adapt accordingly. But seeing that I have not received a real negative review yet, I guess I can continue with my story as I planned. And 2) I am just a bit too impatient :P

Oh, and about Naruto maining the **Kawarimi** , as one of my reviewers thought I was planning, from the ' _new favourite_ Jutsu' remark last chapter, I seriously was NOT planning on that. I just meant that as a passing comment. However, now that I think about it, Naruto maining the **Kawarimi** is not a bad idea. Of course, the **Kawarimi** will see some more action, I assure you that, but using it as a main jutsu... I don't know...

Oh, anyway, let the chapter begin!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 4**

Naruto was standing in front of the hokage in his office at around 9pm. All that Hiruzen had said to him (after he got out of hospital. Women hit you pretty damn hard when they get pissed off) was that they need to 'talk'. For a fact, Naruto knew that this was not good. When anyone tells you that 'we need to talk', all that you can think of is whatever you could have done to piss off said person. And that was exactly what was going on in little Naruto's mind.

Naruto's head still hurt a bit, and his forehead was covered in white bandage, much like most shinobi wear their hitai-ate, which Naruto liked, considering that his goggles broke on impact with the tree. Naruto didn't notice that his goggles were missing until he saw it's broken remains beside his hospital bed after his fight, when he came back to get his kunai pouch, which was ridiculous, because he had fought with a kage without even packing his kunai pouch!

' _Damn, I didn't think jiji would get pissed off at me for that... I didn't know that jiji was a sore loser.'_

However, Hiruzen didn't call Naruto to the office because he was a sore loser. Sure, losing to an academy student is the most embarrassing thing possible that can happen to a kage, since losing to a baby was impossible. Then again, a kage losing to an academy student was also thought to be impossible, so, who knows? Maybe the next thing you know will be that a baby defeated the Hokage. Hiruzen made a mental note to be careful of Konohamaru. The boy had started to challenge the old Hokage to fights recently, and the last thing he wanted was for the whole village to know that he was defeated by his grandson. Luckily, no one saw the fight between him and Naruto, except for the lady, but she didn't know it was a fight. All that she knew was that their Hokage was an old pervert, and she would most likely be warning the ladies to be careful of the 'ero-jiji' (perverted geezer). Well, even that was better than news of his defeat by Naruto get out. That would put his position as kage in danger. Coming back to the point, Hiruzen didn't call Naruto to his office because he was a sore loser. It was to discuss a more serious issue...

"Naruto," the Hokage finally spoke "tell me, how did you feel when you used the **Kawarimi**?"

This puzzled Naruto. He thought that the Hokage was going to tell him off for using such a perverted Jutsu. However, he was not going to complain, after all, which sane kid likes to be scolded? So, he just answered the question- "A bit relieved that the Jutsu worked."

"No, that was not what I was asking," Hiruzen said in a calm tone, "what I meant was, did your chakra levels feel OK?"

Now that was an unusual question. Iruka-sensei never asked him that after he performed the **Kawarimi** at the academy. Still, he decided to go along with it... Now that he thought about it, he _did_ feel like he used more chakra than he usually did, actually, enough to actually make him feel a bit... drained by the time he **Kawarimied** back to the rooftops... He had however, dismissed it there because of his excitement on winning. (Who wouldn't be excited on winning against a kage?) ( **a/n-** answer- Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Madara, Orochimaru to name a few. Actually the only guy to even get excited was Deidara!) (Correction- which non OP character wouldn't be excited?)

"Jiji... I... Umm... Felt a bit... drained... as if I had been training for a bit..." Naruto replied, not really sure what to say. Sure, he did feel drained like he did back then when he trained for, like, 10 minutes continuously in ninjutsu, but, losing that much chakra so quick was new to him.

"Ah, I am glad that you noticed that Naruto-kun, because it would be very hard for me to explain this if you didn't." Hiruzen said, happy that Naruto noticed. "What you felt there was a relatively fast chakra drain from using a Jutsu. You will eventually learn that most high rank Jutsu require a lot of chakra, but you can reduce the chakra drain through training and improving chakra control. Moving on, the reason why you felt drained using that **Kawarimi** is because of thus- now listen carefully Naruto, what I am going to say us very important." Hiruzen waited for a bit and continued after Naruto gave the affirmative. "Naruto, the **Kawarimi** , although an E-Rank academy ninjutsu, is a very useful one. It enables you to switch places with another object to avoid attacks, and, if used creatively like you did..." Hiruzen said, his cheeks reddening slightly, "...it can be used offensively. However, there is a slight flaw with this Jutsu. As distance between you and the body to be switched increases, the chakra cost also increases. However, when you try to switch with bigger bodies, then the chakra cost increases as well. However, the biggest problem is that if the body to be switched has a chakra network, the chakra drain increases considerably, more so if the target has more developed chakra networks and higher chakra reserves. Considering your poor chakra control, I would say that move you pulled off on me cost around 15 times as much chakra as a normal **Kawarimi** at the regular range. I doubt that most of the students of your class would be able to be stand from the chakra drain after pulling off a move like that. The fact that you appear to be all right is testament to your incredibly high reserves of chakra. I think it would be safe to assume that your chakra levels are if that of an average Jounin as of now-" Hiruzen was cut off by a jubilant Naruto jumping far joy.

"Yeah! I am the best!"

Hiruzen however decided to cut Naruto's jubilant display short. "Your chakra control however, as far as I know, the worst in your class."

Naruto drooped at this.

"Coming back to the matter, the **Kawarimi** , although a versatile Jutsu, doesn't see much offensive use in the field because if the above causes, and lack of creativity in a lot of them. However, seeing that you _are_ very creative in your usage of Jutsu, combined with your much above average chakra levels, you do have a lot of potential with this particular Jutsu, provided that you get your chakra control right." Hiruzen said with a smile on his face, but when he remembered something, that smile quickly disappeared.

"Naruto... About the fox... I hope that you forgive me for not telling you." Hiruzen said in a sad tone.

"No big deal jiji! Although, you do need to do one more thing for me to forgive you... But before that, tell me, why did you not tell me about it?"

"Well... You should now know who your parents were. Well, they had a lot of enemies and If word got out that their son is alive, your life could be at risk. Also, I thought that you were not ready for the truth." Hiruzen said with a hint of regret in his voice.

"Hmm... I think I see what you are saying... Ah, anyway if you want me to forgive you, you must teach me how to meditate dattebayo!" Naruto said with a lot of excitement in his voice, knowing that the old man won't refuse.

"Meditate?" Hiruzen asked, genuinely confused. Naruto didn't seem like the kind of boy who would meditate.

"Yeah, so that, y'know, I can meet Kurama."

"Kurama?" Hiruzen asked again, even more surprised.

' _What's going on here? Naruto wants to meditate? To meet Kurama? Who is that?'_

"Oh, yeah, Kurama is the Kyuubi's real name and I want to meditate so that I can see him again in that sewer cage. He told me that I can meet him if I meditate and concentrate." Naruto said in a matter-of-factly tone.

Hiruzen was shocked. The Kyuubi wants to see Naruto again? This can't be good...

"Naruto, don't be foolish, that fox may be trying to manipulate you! Have you forgotten what he did to our village 10 years ago? You want to meet it after it killed your parents?!"

Naruto flinched at this. He didn't think that the Kyuubi was a sensitive issue for the old man as well.

"Jiji, try to understand dattebayo! Kurama told me his story, and I know that you will understand if you listened... I will tell you the story later it is getting dark and I want to get some ramen before Ichiraku's close for the day! So please have some faith in me, it's not like I am going to release the seal or something dattebayo! Besides, if you don't teach me, I am going to find another way to get there sooner or later."

Hiruzen was very much against the idea of Naruto meeting the Kyuubi, but hearing the last two sentences, he decided to have some faith in Naruto. Naruto was a boy with a really pure heart (as in not evil, not not doing anything wrong) and, after all, he was aspiring to be the Hokage. All Hiruzen wished was that Naruto didn't turn twisted like his once favourite pupil Orochimaru did.

"Fine Naruto, but please don't do anything stupid" Hiruzen said as he told got up and started leaving the room, gesturing to Naruto to follow him.

"You can count on me dattebayo!" Naruto said, following his favourite geezer.

A few minutes later, they were at the Konoha's library, containing all of the documented Jutsu in the village. Naruto was practically drooling thinking of all of the Jutsu that was in the library. Hiruzen gave Naruto the scroll, once again warning him to be careful with the fox. Naruto thanked the old Hokage took his key to meet Kurama and made a run for it to the Ramen stand. He couldn't wait to have his ramen today!

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At around 10pm, Naruto was usually fast asleep, but not today. He was too damn excited to sleep. So, he sat down on his bed and began to read the scroll the old man had given him.

' _Let's see... Finding your inner peace... I don't know what the hell that is supposed to mean...'_

At around midnight, he finally figured out what everything meant. Even though the scroll was relatively simple, Naruto was never good with books and theory. But he did finally get it and then he prepared to meet Kurama once again, sitting in the lotus position on his bed...

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When Naruto opened his eyes again, he was back to the place that made this day extraordinary. Back to the sewer cage, as Naruto called it.

" **Ah, finally, you are back Naruto! It took you forever to go through that simple scroll!"** Kurama said glad to see the boy back.

"Well, reading and theory are not my thin- Hey! How did you know that?!"

" **That's because I can see everything that you see."** Kurama said casually, as if only a child wouldn't know stuff like that.

"Oh... I see... So where is the magic crystal ball?" Naruto asked

" **There is no magic crystal ball gaki. It is sort of like, it comes to my mind directly from your brain, assuming that you have one..."** Kurama said with a smirk evident on his face

"Hey, shut up! Hold on a second, if you see everything I see, then... that means... You have seen me pooping! Ah, I feel so violated!"

" **You shut up gaki, I have no interest in your excretory or reproductive organs!"** Kurama shouted at Naruto, not willing to keep quiet after such an accusation.

"Oh yeah, how do I know?"

" **Gaki, please, I have been sealed inside two female jinchuuriki previously, and I have seen how children are made LIVE! Muahahahaha!"** Kurama said laughing evilly.

"Hey, how are children made? I always wondered how they are made but no one ever tells me. It's like, no one knows!" said the innocent 10-year old, with no clue about what he was talking about. 2 or 3 years later Naruto would have understood what Kurama was implying and promptly blush deep red while telling him to shut up, but not this Naruto. He was genuinely curious.

" **Ah, it seems no one has given you the talk yet..."** Kurama said with a grin plastered on his face. Although this stuff didn't interest Kurama himself much, he knew how embarrassing this subject was to humans. **"...although it would be fun to tell you... I will save it for later... Right now we have a more serious matter to discuss."**

Kurama thought about where to begin telling Naruto what he was going tell while Naruto looked on at Kurama wondering what he was going to tell him.

" **OK, let me begin then. I am Kurama, aka the Kyuubi. I have am one of the nine bijuu spread around the shinobi world. They are- The Ichibi Shukaku, The Niibi Matatabi, The Sanbi Isobu, The Yonbi Son Goku, The Gobi Kokuo, The Rokubi Saiken, The Nanabi Choumei, The Hachibi Gyuuki, and myself. We were all made by our father, the Rikkudou Sennin, the greatest man to have ever graced this planet. We were all split from a huge monstrosity called the Juubi which our father managed to seal into himself. Our father made us so that when he died, the Juubi won't be unleashed in this world. I will narrate everything to you in detail later on. Now, I have fulfilled part one of my promise."**

Naruto, who was carefully listening to Kurama's story excitedly said- "Cool! Now you are going to give me your power right?" Naruto asked expectantly.

" **Unfortunately, no, not right now. To gain my power fully, you have to learn to control it first. My chakra capitalises on any hatred or negative emotions in your heart, and while still very low, I can sense a bit of negative emotions in you. If the chakra overcomes you, you will lose control of yourself and attack anything that moves. So, you must first get rid of all of your negative emotions first if you are to gain my power. You must keep your anger in check at all times, if you are to have any hope in using my power. That, however could take a long time, as changing your personality would be very difficult but you don't have any special training for it, so, you can incorporate it into your daily life. However, what we CAN work on is your chakra control, and that is something I can help you with. We will start our training tomorrow. Got all of that?"**

Naruto was at first disappointed that he couldn't get all of Kurama's power, but then, something struck him.

"Wait, did you just take up my training?"

" **Of course not! I am merely going to help you with chakra control. It is an insult to me that my container has such horrible chakra control!"**

"Oh... I see... *Yawn* It is pretty late now, I am getting real sleepy dattebayo. So... See you tomorrow Kurama!" Naruto said while vanishing from the 'sewer cage'.

' _ **I will be waiting for you gaki... Today was a good start... I hope I get along well with him... He is much better than any other human I have met... Good night gaki...'**_

Saying this Kurama laid down to take a nap. Of course, bijuu don't need to sleep, but Kurama likes the idea of being lazy and doing nothing.

Back in the real world, Naruto was trying to go to sleep.

' _I can't wait for tomorrow!'_

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 **a/n-** Phew! That was exhausting!

OK, so, what do you think about my theory on the Kawarimi? Sounds realistic enough?

Ah, and like Kurama said, he will help Naruto only with chakra control, because of the reason given by Kurama + Everything Kurama knows can be taught only after Naruto gets the Kurama Chakra Mode, which is going to take a while to keep Naruto from being OP. However I _did_ decide to improve Naruto's chakra control so that he can be a bit stronger than in canon. Oh, and I think there will most likely be a time skip within 5 chapters.

Don't forget to tell me what you think of this chapter!

 **Some translations**

Bijuu- tailed beast

Ichibi- One tails

Niibi- Two tails

Sanbi- Three tails

Yonbi -Four tails

Gobi- Five tails

Rokubi- Six tails

Nanabi- Seven tails

Hachibi- Eight tails

Kyuubi- Nine tails

Juubi- Ten tails

Hitai-ate - Forehead protector


	5. Chapter 5

**a/n-** Hello people! Some shit has been happening in my life lately.

Good news first- My vacation just started! Hooray!

The bad news- I happened to be running for joy because my vacations have begun and then- BAM! The next thing I know, I am on the ground, people asking me if I'm okay, and oddly enough, some red fluid pouring from my chin and tiny leaks from some other parts.

And that's how I ended up with 3 stitches on my chin, a swollen lip, two really bruised up palms and a hell of an injection. Great way to start off the vacation right?. Whoever thought that a simple fall from ground level would cause so much pain!

Oh, and in case you are worried if I'm gonna reduce my update speed/chapter length, you are right in worrying. Those two will be reduced, but hopefully, not too much.

Well... at least I can take cool selfies of myself and... Tell strangers that I got those scars while fighting off an evil bandit to protect a pussy cat! Yeah, I can do that!

Ah, enough of my personal life. Let the chapter Begin!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 5**

In Konohagakure no Sato, inside a certain apartment, Uzumaki Naruto was starting to wake up from la-la-land. He had gone to sleep really late the night before because all he could do lying in the bed was think about how awesome it would be for the great Kurama to train him! However, coming back to the present, the poor academy student was totally out of the loop.

"Ugh... Morning already?"

This is the dialogue he says almost everyday he has to go to the academy.

' _Wait... Academy...'_

That was when the situation struck Naruto.

"Oh shit! I'm going to be late for class! Iruka-sensei is going to be really pissed off!"

With that Naruto brushed his teeth, took a bath, ate his breakfast (which was cup ramen of course), got dressed, and he was out of his apartment, all in five minutes.

' _Damn it! I hope I get there on time! If I don't, I am so dead!'_

Naruto thought, as he ran along the streets of Konoha, using every once of his speed. All he could think of was what Iruka was going to do with him... Naruto pushed those thoughts aside quickly. He needed to concentrate on reaching his class as fast as he could... With that in mind, Naruto continued to run at the top of his speed.

A few minutes later, he was finally at the academy gates to find it... closed? Naruto quickly began framing all sorts of conspiracies in his mind, ranging from an alien invasion to Sasuke's fanclub staging a coup in the academy so that they can... Naruto shuddered at where his thoughts were going. He then began trying to frame more reasonable theories, but couldn't come up with one. Naruto was pretty sure that there wasn't any public holiday that day... He was about to give up when he noticed a notice on the wall-

 **The academy is closed for a week for renovation.**

Naruto facepalmed. Apparently, In his frustration on losing to Sasuke, Naruto didn't pay attention to class, and when Iruka had announced this in class, Naruto was busy thinking of ways to beat Sasuke.

' _I dragged my ass all the way here at full speed for nothing! Damn it! Well... ah! On the plus side, I can train with Kurama!'_

And so, Naruto set off to train. He was walking along the streets when he noticed something he didn't pay much attention to on his way to the academy- The Hokage monument. That was when his gaze fell on the Yondaime Hokage's face...

' _I am finding it really hard to believe that the Yondaime is my father... I wonder if I should tell everyone that I'm the Yondaime's son... Nah, no one will believe me... Besides, Hokage-jiji kept it a secret for this long for a reason. Oh no! I forgot to ask him why he didn't tell me that Kurama is sealed inside me! I'll ask him next time... If I don't forget.'_

And so, Naruto walked off for his training, all the while not noticing a figure following him.

When Naruto finally reached his training ground, he was really excited... and a bit nervous... Who wouldn't be when you are getting help from a bijuu for your training. Naruto sat on the grassy ground, closing his eyes and concentrating. Pretty soon, he was standing in front of Kurama.

" **What's the matter gaki?"**

"Weren't you going to help me with my chakra control?"

" **Oh, that... Go climb a tree."**

"Huh? How will climbing a tree help my chakra control?" Naruto asked in a really confused tone.

" **Uh, what I meant was, go climb a tree without using your hands. Just channel enough chakra to your legs so that you stick to the tree, but not too much so that the bark of the tree comes off. It is similar to that leaf concentration exercise if yours, but this time, instead of your forehead, do it with your feet. The soles of your feet are the toughest areas to channel your chakra. Got all of that? Now leave."** Kurama said in a very bored tone.

"All right! Thanks Kurama! I'll get this down in no time dattebayo!" Naruto said while fading away.

Naruto opened his eyes back in the real world, got up, and ran towards the nearest tree. He tried doing everything exactly as Kurama told him. He channelled chakra to his feet and tried to run up the tree... Only to land on his back.

' _OK, this is going to take a while.'_ Naruto thought as he proceeded to try again and again.

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Meanwhile, in the Hokage office, Hiruzen was thinking really hard about what to do with Naruto. The chances that the Kyuubi, or, as Naruto called it, Kurama would try to manipulate him was very high. Even though Naruto said that he wouldn't release the seal, Hiruzen still felt very uneasy. That's why he had sent an ANBU to see to it that Naruto doesn't do anything stupid. This particular ANBU, named Tenzo, was most probably the only person who could keep the Kyuubi under control, because he was infused with the Shodaime, Senju Hashirama's cells. Hashirama once had all 9 bijuu under his control because of his unique **Mokuton** Kekkei Genkai, which was replicated in Tenzo only because of Orochimaru's evil experimentation. Hiruzen still couldn't shake off the guilt for letting Orochimaru get away on the day he had him cornered.

Hiruzen quickly let go of those thoughts. It's no use thinking about that day now. He had to decide what to do with Naruto... actually, he had already decided, but he was thinking about the consequences of doing this- Would Naruto hate him for not having faith in him? If this news leaked out, what would the civilian populace do? It was a well known fact that most of the civilians hated Naruto, unable to tell the difference between the boy and the demon, and the whisker marks certainly didn't help the situation. If only the civilians could understand the situation as well as the shinobi population did... very few of them actually hated Naruto, because they had faith in their beloved Yondaime's seal.

Hiruzen focused himself back to the task at hand. He needs to do what needs to be done...

"Tora!" Hiruzen gave a shout.

One second later, an ANBU wearing a tiger mask **Shunshined** in front of the Hokage.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" the ANBU said in his usual, dutiful, serious tone.

Hiruzen took out a scroll that he had written earlier placed it on his desk, and said- "Take this scroll and give it to Jiraiya as soon as possible."

"Hokage-sama, where can I find Jiraiya-sama?"

"I think he should be somewhere in Hi no Kuni. You should find him pretty soon if you search near the hot springs and night clubs and just about every place where you can find women. It would also help if you **Henged** into a really pretty lady."

Without saying a word, Tora **Henged** into a really pretty lady, wearing really little for covering herself up.

"Would this be enough Hok-" The ANBU was cut off by a Hokage rocketing backwards with the propulsion of blood coming out of his nose.

"I'll take that as a yes." Tora said as he released the **Henge** to go back to his ANBU attire.

About a minute later, the Hokage was back on his chair, wiping the residual blood from his nose with a napkin. He then asked the ANBU a question-

"Be honest Tora, how do you know about this particular lady from one of Jiraiya's books?"

"Oh, that, umm.. Kakashi-san had lent me that book for, um... dating advice."

"I didn't expect an ANBU to be a pervert. Besides, I don't remember anything worthy of being 'dating advice' in Jiraiya's books."

"Permission to speak freely Hokage-sama?"

"Granted."

"I didn't expect the Hokage to be a pervert reading smut."

Hiruzen's face reddened a bit on hearing this.

"Ahem! I believe if is time for you to go find Jiraiya. Dismissed!"

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Tora said as he vanished from the office in a **Shunshin**.

' _I hope Jiraiya arrives before anything happens to Naruto. He has the right to know about what happened to his godson after all.'_ Hiruzen thought as he began doing his work for the day.

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Back with Naruto, he was having a really hard time with his chakra control. He had been training for hours and the kind of progress he made in climbing the tree was pitiful. At first, he was always putting in too much chakra, resulting in a skinned tree. It took him about an hour to realise that he had to reduce the amount of chakra he channelled to his feet. And so, he set of once again to try and climb the tree... only to fall straight off the tree onto his poor back. And so, he had tried and tried again, only to alternate between waxing the tree and failed wall running attempts. By the time it was noon, he made some noticeable progress- One foot. That may seem pitiful, but this was not an exercise for academy students to do, so this was something to be (a bit) proud of. Naruto was sweating a lot now. Konoha doesn't really have hot climate, especially when you compare it to Suna (That place is a freaking frying pan!). However, it wasn't winter, and training for hours, especially at noon could make anyone sweaty. And so, Naruto took off his shirt to let the heat off. His body was not actually the 'hero type'. He didn't look too healthy. After all, who would be if all you eat is ramen, 3 meals every single day? Naruto then decided that he needed to take a break. He also needed to know what he was doing wrong. One foot progress in a whole morning? Surely he was doing something wrong right? He sat down on the grassy ground once again, to meet his friend...

A few seconds later, he was standing in front of Kurama. This meditation thing was getting easier and easier every time! Kurama looked like he was enjoying a nap. Naruto wondered how the fox seemed to be asleep almost all the time. Kurama, however, by no means was cute in his 'sleep'. He always seemed to have this look on his face all the time saying 'life is so annoying'.

Naruto then gave a shout to Kurama- "Oi! Kurama! Wake up! Did you even see how my training went?"

Kurama got really annoyed at this wake up call. He shouted back- **"Look at who's shouting at me! That 10-year old that was scared shitless when he first saw me less than 24 hours ago!"**

Naruto got really ticked off at this. He countered- "That's because I thought you were the bad guy who almost destroyed my village!"

" **Oh! And why did you change your mind then, gaki? I killed the only family you had! Why are you not scared of me then, huh?"**

Naruto replied, this time in a lowered voice... "Because... I never really met them... all I know about my father is from the books they made us read back in the academy... and I don't know anything about my mother... aside from what you told me Kurama... What I'm saying is that it's a good thing I don't know much about my parents... it makes not thinking about the things I missed out on that much easier... But you Kurama, even though you killed my parents, I can't really blame you... and you are the closest I ever came to a friend... You went through a lot of difficulties like I did... You are the only person who knows what I went through..." By the time Naruto finished, streams of tears were trickling out of his eyes, and he was desperately trying not to cry.

Kurama was not a very emotional kind of guy, but even he had to admit that there was truth in what Naruto said. He decided that it was best if he changed the topic.

" **Naruto..."** Kurama said in an unusually low and sympathetic voice for the Bijuu. **"...I am sorry for what happened... But from this day onwards, you will have your friend Kurama with you, until the day you die."**

"R-Really?" Naruto asked while wiping his tears.

" **You have my word, kit."** Kurama replied with something that was almost never seen on his face- a genuine smile.

"That doesn't mean you are going to kill me right?"

" **Though I would have liked to do that 24 hours ago, after I got to know you, you are the only human I've seen in a long time worthy of my respect. So yeah, I won't kill you"**

"Thanks Kurama!" Naruto said as he ran into Kurama's cage and gave him a hug... on his hands.

Had Naruto done this an hour ago, Kurama would have thought of this as a death wish. But now... the boy needed some love... ( **a/n-** No! Not that kind of love you perverts!)

" **So... Naruto... How was your training?"**

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Sorry for the delay! It's just that my body is real sore now and because of that injection on my left arm (which hurts worse than the actual fall itself) I can't really hold up my phone to type. And, there was this weird pus coming from my right palm the day I removed the bandage from there. So... Sorry again for the delay! Also, It's my birthday today! So, if you are going to leave a review, why don't you take a shot at guessing my age?

Oh, and I just discovered that background music makes a hell of a difference in my writing style. I was listening to one of the original soundtracks 'Sadness and Sorrow' for that last scene. I never thought I would write a scene like that before I started writing that scene, even though it does appear a bit pathetic...

Stay tuned for the next chapter which will (hopefully) come soon!

Oh, and Hi no Kuni means fire country.


	6. Chapter 6

**a/n-** Hello, everyone! Time for chapter 6!

Sorry for the delay (again)! I am feeling much better now, my palms are fully healed, and the stitches on my chin are gone too. The delay was because, well, I was hit by the **Laziness no Jutsu**. Sorry again.

OK, let the chapter Begin!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 6**

A whole week had passed since Naruto's chakra control training with Kurama had started. Right now, Naruto was standing right in front of a very big tree he had found in the woods surrounding his training ground. The tree was at least 70 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It didn't have too many branches, and all of it's branches were at the top of the tree. The birds were chirping, as they usually do when the sun rises. Naruto had a determined look on his face. He had only one thing in his mind at the moment. Reach the top of that tree.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and relaxed. His clothes were torn almost everywhere, and very dirty due to the constant falling. He wore the same clothes for training everyday, as he didn't want to get more than one set of clothes dirty. He still had his bandage wrapped around his head, which too had become very dirty. Naruto's face was dirty as well, as he had been training for about an hour prior to this. Naruto slowly released his breath and opened his eyes.

' _Ok, I can do this. I can reach the top. I will reach the top!'_ Naruto mentally reassured himself, as he prepared himself for climbing the tree.

Naruto channelled chakra to his feet as he raised one leg and put it on the bark of the tree, sticking to the tree pretty well.

' _Ok, so far, so good. Now the other leg.'_

Naruto then raised the leg that connected him to the grassy ground, and put it on the tree's bark as well. Naruto was now standing perpendicular to the tree.

' _Ok, I got this. I will reach the top!'_ Naruto reassured himself again, as he proceeded to walk up the tree, step by step, slow and steady. He was sweating, but not too much, as the cool morning breeze was cooling him down. About a minute later, Naruto was about 5 feet from the top of the tree, by which he meant, the highest climbable part of the tree, also known as right below where the tree branches off.

' _Yes! Almost there! I've got this!'_ Naruto thought as he slowly walked the last 5 feet, with a smile widening on his face with each step he took.

When Naruto finally got to his goal, he was really happy. He felt like he was the best in the world.

' _Yeah! I did it! My training paid off!'_ Naruto thought as he jumped for joy.

Wait a minute! **Jumped** for joy? Jumping while standing perpendicular to a tree? While you are almost 70 feet high? That's never a good idea...

That was exactly what Naruto thought as he plummeted to the ground.

"Aaaaargh!" Naruto shouted as he plummeted to the ground. Thankfully, his experience with falling as much as he did that week had left him with a reflex to land on his feet while falling. And, thanks to that, and the fact that academy students were taught how to land after falling from such a height, Naruto could land safely, although his legs did hurt a lot.

"Ouch! My legs!" Naruto weakly said as he turned to limp home. He had come to train early today, because academy would start again that day and he wanted to get this done before he went back to the academy. Now that he had finally completed his training, maybe he could beat Sasuke-teme? Naruto couldn't wait to see how much improvement he had made!

* * *

About half an hour later, Naruto was back at home, eating breakfast, which was, as usual, cup ramen. Naruto had taken a bath, and he was now wearing a clean set of clothes. He was greedily eating his ramen at a speed which most would find unbelievable, and after eating 5 cups, he was satisfied.

' _Ah! Life is good as long as I have ramen! Oh, I better meet Kurama now.'_

Thinking this, Naruto concentrated on entering the sewer seal while still sitting on the chair he had been eating on. About a minute later, he was standing in front of Kurama.

Kurama was lying down in his usual position, with his head rested in both of his forearms, like dogs do some of the time. He was looking at Naruto with a tiny smirk. Kurama was happy that Naruto could finally get his chakra control right. It was really embarrassing to be a chakra monster with a jinchuuriki that could barely control chakra.

" **I see that you have completed the tree walking exercise. Good. Now you should have better chakra control than the average academy student."** Kurama said with a tiny smile on his face.

"Cool! Now I can totally beat Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted, very happy that Kurama praised him.

" **Oi, Naruto, don't get too carried away. Better chakra control doesn't mean that your taijutsu and kenjutsu will improve, and I know for a fact that the only spars you have with the Uchiha are taijutsu spars."** Kurama said matter-of-factly.

Naruto sighed at that in disappointment. "Aww... I was looking forward to kicking his ass... Hey, you will train me in taijutsu right?"

" **No way! I don't know anything about taijutsu! Why would I know taijutsu? The only reason I know this exercise was because I found it funny when your mother fell from the tree's again and again, and for once, I paid attention to what was happening."**

"Oh... OK. Hey! You find it funny to see people falling from trees? Are you some sort of sadist?" Naruto asked Kurama with a hint of anger evident in his voice.

" **Who knows... maybe I am a bit sadistic... Hahahahaha!"** Kurama laughed out loud, and Naruto was left thinking- _'Is he crazy as well as sadistic?'_

Naruto and Kurama had become much more friendly over the week, and Naruto's parents were no longer a sore subject between them.

After the laughter died down, Kurama said- **"Oi Naruto... Don't you think it's time for you to go to that academy of yours?"**

Realisation dawned on Naruto's face as he yelled. "Oh no! I completely forgot! Bye Kurama! See you later!" Naruto said as he vanished from the sewer seal.

Seconds later, Naruto was back in his apartment, and he quickly got out of his chair, knocking the chair over in the process. He took a look at his alarm clock by his bed, and he knew that he was done for. Class would start in five minutes! Naruto quickly ran to the front door, put his sandals on, got out, fumbled with his keys as he closed the door, and he was off at the speed of a flying kunai.

* * *

A few minutes later, Iruka had entered his classroom in the academy to find all of his students seated... except for one...

"Has anyone seen Naruto?" Iruka asked, but he received no reply from his class. However, the reply he did get was of the noise someone made while running outside the classroom.

Seconds later, the door to the classroom slid open, revealing a very tired Naruto, sweating and panting from the high-speed race against time. Iruka was a bit concerned for Naruto when he saw the dirty bandage around Naruto's forehead.

"Naruto, what happened to your head?"

Naruto mentally let out a sigh of relief. Iruka-sensei was not getting angry for his late arrival. Naruto's wounds had healed pretty fast but he decided that he would wear the bandages until he found a replacement for his broken goggles. However, telling Iruka that he had cracked his head against a tree while running was going to be a bit embarrassing. So... he was going to twist the story just a _bit._

"That umm... Iruka-sensei... You see... I.. umm... was trying to save a pussy cat from a bunch of dogs who were harassing it, and I intervened, and beat up many of the dogs when..." Naruto was interrupted by Kiba.

"Hey! Dogs are way stronger than that! I bet just one of them could easily rip you to shreds!" Kiba protested, and a tiny Akamaru barked in agreement, while some of the class slightly shuddered at that mental image.

"Shut up!" Naruto retorted "I knocked out about 5 dogs before their boss knocked me off my feet, and I hit my forehead on the wall and got knocked out!"

"Then why are you still alive? That dog should have eaten you for all that I know." Kiba questioned, and Akamaru barked in agreement.

Naruto cringed a bit at this. He had not thought out this part of the story. He desperately tried to come up with something to cover that mistake up when he gave the best reply he could- "Someone saved me from the dogs and drove them away and then took me to the hospital." Naruto said quickly.

"Oh! And who was that?" It was Iruka's turn to ask the questions now.

"I umm... don't know!"

"And why do you not know who it was?"

"I umm... woke up in the hospital after being knocked out, and I found out that the someone had taken me to the hospital, and I forgot to ask them who it was." Naruto replied while rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Oh... I think I understand... Next time, remember to ask somebody's name when they help you, OK Naruto? Now you may go to your seat." Iruka said, not fully believing Naruto's story, but he decided to go with it.

"Roger that Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said enthusiastically and proceeded to walk to his seat.

On the way, Naruto noticed a certain white-eyed girl sitting at the back of the class looking at him, who looked very worried... That was when he remembered a very important thing-

' _Oh, yes! I need to talk to Hinata! I need to ask her why she ran away when I found her.'_ Naruto made a mental note of this as he sat down on his place.

"OK students, now that all of you are here, we can start class. We will be starting the day with a surprise test on the second great shinobi war."

Oh boy. This was going to be a long day...

* * *

After class was over for the day, Naruto was looking forward to going to Ichiraku's and getting some ramen. The surprise test went awful for him, and so did the rest of the classes. He needed ramen to cheer up. He was running through the corridors of the academy, eager to get out. It was when he reached the academy gates that he remembered something.

' _Ah! I almost forgot! I need to talk to Hinata!'_

Remembering the task he had to do, Naruto grinded to a halt. Naruto decided to wait for Hinata to come, and he waited, leaning on the wall outside the academy.

After some time Hinata came through the gates, walking like a normal person should, wearing a yellow hoodie and blue pants. She was unaware of Naruto's presence, and looked like she was thinking really hard about something.

Naruto decided to play it safe and decided to get close to her before he made his presence known. After all, she could run off like she did last time. And so, Naruto walked up behind her, creeping like a ninja. Fortunately, the streets were empty when Naruto started getting closer to Hinata. It was a good thing for him because if anyone saw what was happening, he would have been reported to the police for stalking (Ironic isn't it?). Also, Hinata was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice Naruto. Naruto kept on creeping until Hinata was within arm's reach. Then he decided to make his presence known-

"Oi Hinata!"

The last thing Hinata expected when she was walking home was for her crush to come up behind her and give a shout. So, naturally, she did what most girls did in this situation. She froze. She was starting to sweat a lot, hoping that Naruto didn't see her that day, and there was a bright blush on her face, from the close proximity of her crush.

Naruto was puzzled by Hinata's reaction. The first time, she ran off when he noticed per, and now, she wasn't moving. She wasn't even standing properly. It was like, she was hit by a paralysing genjutsu while she was walking, and now, she is stuck mid-step with one foot behind and one foot in front, and her arms by her side. Naruto decided to go in front of Hinata, as she still hadn't turned around. That was when he noticed that Hinata was sweating profusely and was really red in the face. Naturally, he thought that she was not feeling too well.

"Uh... Hinata, you don't look all right. Are you sick? You better go to the hospital." Naruto said, a bit worried for her.

Hinata was glad that Naruto didn't seem to remember seeing her that day, and that he was concerned for her. She gathered her bearings, stood straight, and started to twiddle her fingers as she usually did when she was nervous. Then she spoke, stuttering a little-

"N-No need for that N-Naruto-k-kun... I am f-feeling well. T-Thank you"

"You sure don't look OK." Naruto said, still not sure that Hinata was alright.

"T-Trust me, I am O-OK."

"OK, fine then, by- oh, I almost forgot." Naruto decided to go straight to the point. "Why did you run away when I told you to stop that day? And why were you spying on me?"

Hinata was shocked. Naruto knew that it was her! She was sweating a whole lot more than before. Naruto was waiting for a reply. A few moments passed with Hinata trying to make up her mind on what to say. Hinata gathered all of her courage and said, while bowing her head-

"S-Sorry for t-that. I-I was w-walking through the w-woods when I h-heard y-you training, a-and I was w-watching what y-you were d-doing, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata was stuttering heavily, thanks to her super-nervous state when she said this. After all, who wouldn't be when you are the cause of your crush's head injury? Hinata proceeded to give the second part of her answer-

"W-When y-you threw that k-kunai at me, it h-hit my h-head and then I d-didn't know what I-I was d-doing..." Hinata's head lowered even further "T-Then, I s-sprinted off and only s-stopped when I h-heard y-your h-head hitting t-the tree... A-And I g-got very scared and I c-carried you to the h-hospital." It was by a miracle that Hinata had not yet broken down. She however, needed to ask for one thing... "I k-know that y-you are v-very a-angry at me for w-what I have d-done... But if it i-is at all p-possible, p-please f-forgive me N-Naruto-kun!" By the time Hinata finished, she had bowed as low as she could, hoping that Naruto would forgive her.

Naruto was standing silently listening to Hinata's explanation, with a lightly shocked expression on his face. He didn't think that Hinata would be the one who took him to the hospital. He was even more shocked at how much she was apologising. If he had done something like that, he wouldn't apologise nearly as much as she did, and he doubted that anyone else would apologise like that. He then spoke-

"Hinata, I am not mad at you... I actually owe you an apology for throwing that kunai at you, and I owe you two thank yous- one for taking me to the hospital and another for creating the opportunity to meet my best friend! So please Hinata, stop bowing, there is nothing for me to forgive, because you are not at fault." Naruto was smiling genuinely when Hinata stopped bowing and looked at him in the face.

Hinata was overjoyed when she heard what Naruto said. Although she didn't know who this 'best friend' was, she was just happy that Naruto wasn't mad at her. If she were any other girl, she would have hugged Naruto already, but Hinata being Hinata, all she could do was just smile back at him.

Then, they were interrupted by Naruto's rumbling stomach.

"Oh, I must get going. I am getting a bit hungry. I was going to tell you about my best friend, but I guess I'll tell you all about it when I see you again." Naruto said, a bit embarrassed.

"Okay N-Naruto-kun, bye!"

"Bye Hinata!" Naruto said as he ran off towards his favourite ramen stand.

Hinata continued her walk home, much happier than she had been before her conversation with Naruto.

* * *

' _I am so stuffed... my stomach hurts...'_ Naruto thought as he laid down on his bed in his pyjamas. He got a bit carried away while eating his ramen, and this was the result- A Naruto that looked like he was pregnant.

' _I'll go meet Kurama... It's not like I can sleep any time soon with this stomach. Oww... It hurts..."_

Naruto then closed his eyes, still lying on his back on the bed, and a minute later, he was standing in front of Kurama.

"Oi Kurama! What's up dattebayo?" Naruto asked, his voice a bit weaker than usual.

" **You really shouldn't overeat like that, Naruto. Eating ramen all the time isn't good for your health. You should pay attention to your diet."** Kurama said while sitting in the very same position he had been sitting in in the morning.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll pay attention to my diet starting next year." Naruto said, a little annoyed that Kurama wanted to cancel his ramen privileges.

" **Anyway, there are two things I need to tell you, Naruto"** Kurama's face became a bit serious. **"First, the ANBU which had been tailing you is gone now. I can't sense him anymore."**

"Ah, finally, he is gone after one whole week. He must have run away after he found out how boring Iruka-sensei's classes are! Hahaha!" Naruto laughed at how hilarious he was.

" **The second thing I want to tell you is that... before I tell you, I want you to remember that I am telling you this only because I don't want you to be asking 'Why didn't you tell me that?' OK?"** Kurama said in a bored tone. **"That girl you had been talking to, Hinata, has a really big crush on you."**

"Whaaat?!" Naruto shouted, completely shocked to hear that a girl that he barely knew liked him.

" **Don't shout like that gaki! You are hurting my sensitive ears!"** Kurama shouted back.

"Oh, sorry about that, but are you sure that she likes me?" Naruto asked, not believing that a girl liked **him** and not Sasuke.

" **As sure as I am that you are an idiot."**

Naruto didn't respond to the snide response Kurama gave. He was too busy thinking about this new situation...

Naruto eventually gave up. He would think something up when the time came. Right now, he was suddenly starting to feel sleepy. His stomach has big mood swings.

"Thanks for telling me that Kurama... I think I'll go get some sleep now... Good night!" Naruto said as he vanished from Kurama's sight.

' _ **Heh, this should be fun... I wonder what the kid will do...'**_ Kurama mused, as he closed his eyes.

* * *

Finally! Chapter over! That took longer than I expected... I am trying to fix the issue with the pacing of my story, as one of my reviewers pointed out... I hope I get it right by the time Naruto becomes genin...

And, yeah, maybe I did go a bit overboard with Hinata's stuttering...

And, yes, Please do let me know what you think of this chapter!

I really do hope that the **Laziness no Jutsu** doesn't strike again


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n-** Time for chapter 7!

But, before we start, I would like to tell my dear readers who are tired of NaruHina pairings that this is not a romance fic, so no dating, kissing etc. until, maybe, **much** later, like shippuuden time frame, and that is, **if** I get there. (No, I am not going to abandon this fic, but I seriously have no idea when I will end this). So, relax, no need to get too worked up over that. I am more into humour and action and stuff like that. Also, you can expect a time skip soon...

Anyway, let's get on with the chapter!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 7**

It was yet another beautiful morning for the people of Konohagakure no Sato. They were walking through the streets, to get to their workplace for yet another day of work, while the shinobi population on duty were already keeping watch over their precious village, and at the same time, the kids training to be the next generation of shinobi were on their way to the academy.

Meanwhile, in a certain apartment, Naruto was having a hard time getting up from bed, mainly because he forgot to set the alarm the previous night, and, he went to sleep much later than usual, thinking about what to do with the situation he was in.

Of course, it was cool to know that somebody actually had a crush on him in a village where a lot of the people hate him because of the Bijuu sealed within him. However, he also didn't know what to do, as this kind of situation was totally new to him. Initially, he thought about doing what Sasuke did, but then he scratched that thought. He was never going to turn emo like the Uchiha. And so, he had to spend a lot of time thinking about what to do about this before going to bed, and he did decide what to do before going to sleep- Act as if nothing happened, and observe what Hinata does. If things kept on going as it was, he wouldn't mess up anything, right?

As of now, a totally out-of-the-loop Naruto was slowly getting up from bed, sitting at the edge of his bed, yawning and stretching his arms.

That was when he noticed what the time was on his clock.

"Argh! Why didn't the alarm ring!" Naruto shouted as he got off his bed and began preparing his breakfast. He took out his cup-ramen, poured some hot water in, and while the ramen was cooking, he brushed and dressed. He grabbed his cup-ramen and the chopsticks that came with it, and he was out of his apartment, locked his door with just one hand, and he was off, literally eating on the go.

On his way to the academy, he turned quite a few heads, as many were curious of the blonde that accomplished the miraculous task of simultaneously eating ramen and running. In time, Teuchi (aka Mr. Ramen guy) would here of this and would congratulate Naruto on accomplishing the task he himself had tried a lot and failed miserably.

However, Naruto was running really late. He was never going to make it on time, with just a minute before academy started. By the time he reached the academy gates, his cup of ramen was long finished, but he had no time to find a trash can, so, he did what anyone would do- he ran with the cup and chopsticks still held in his hands.

He ran through corridors at the speed of a flying kunai and soon, his classroom's door was in sight. He was thinking up excuses to tell Iruka-sensei, when a devious idea came into his mind-

' _Ha! Why didn't I think of this before! I will_ _ **Kawarimi**_ _with Sasuke-teme! If I am lucky, I can make Iruka-sensei believe that it was Sasuke that was late, and not me! I am a genius dattebayo!'_ Naruto thought as he proceeded to go through the hand seals for performing his insanely stupid plan. One does not think up good ideas when you are in a hurry like Naruto was.

By the time he completed the series of hand seals he was already at the door of his classroom. Naruto then performed the **Kawarimi no Jutsu** with Sasuke and Naruto was instantly substituted into the classroom.

When Naruto gained his bearings, he noticed a big problem- he was expecting to be seated in Sasuke's place, but instead, he was now standing in front of all of his classmates, who had their mouths wide open, staring in surprise (yes, even Sasuke was gaping)... and he was standing where Iruka usually stood...

"What the hell!" Naruto heard a shout from the other side of the classroom door.

There was only one thing going through Naruto's mind now-

' _Shit!'_

* * *

A bit later, Naruto was standing at the back of the class, inches away from the wall, with a face that had boredom written all over it, and a leaf stuck to his head with his chakra. Every time the leaf fell from his head, he had to run an extra round around the academy training grounds. The punishment for coming late at the academy, contrary to the belief of many pupils, was not actually punishment. The 'punishment' is actually training for improving chakra control and physique. So, the punishment actually helped in making a student a better shinobi when they grew up.

However, Naruto was going through sheer boredom now... It was not because of the leaf he had to hold to his forehead, which was child's play for him now... It was because of Iruka's boring lecture... Naruto was getting worried that he might fall asleep while standing, something which is not unheard of in the shinobi world, but still, rare.

Naruto was just about to slip into the wonderful land of dreams, when he heard that Iruka's voice had raised a bit. He shook off his sleep and paid attention to what Iruka said.

"...Over. Now follow me for our taijutsu sparring session. And, Naruto, your punishment is over." Iruka said while smiling- "I honestly didn't expect you to keep that leaf stuck to your forehead without letting it fall even once! Looks like your chakra control is improving!"

"Thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted while grinning one of his trademark 'foxy' grins.

Iruka smiled back and said to the whole class- "OK, now follow me for our sparring session."

Naruto and all of his classmates followed Iruka out of class. Naruto couldn't help but grin when he thought of the sparring session.

' _I really hope that I get matched up with teme. I am totally gonna kick his ass!'_

* * *

Naruto was really disappointed when he found out who he was matched up with. He was standing in the sparring ground, making the seal of confrontation with his right hand, and in front of him was his opponent- wearing a grey shirt with the Nara symbol on it, slouching, and half-heartedly making the same seal with his right hand- Nara Shikamaru, AKA the lazy ass.

Naruto couldn't believe that he was matched up against the lazy ass- the guy was so lazy, that he didn't even complete his tests, writing just enough to pass, as he thought that the whole thing was 'troublesome'.

Naruto was now waiting for Iruka to give the signal to start, when the Nara said-

"Iruka-sensei, why can't I just give up? It will save me from a painful punch!"

Naruto facepalmed. Of course, he should have expected the Nara to say that. He said this before every spar began, but Iruka would never let him leave without a fight. And the same thing happened this time.

Iruka shouted out- "How many times do I have to tell you that you can't give up a spar! Don't you get tired asking me every time?!"

"Actually, I do, but it is always worth a try. The amount of energy I waste with talking is nothing compared to the pain I have to go through after these troublesome spars." Shikamaru replied, in his usual, bored-as-hell tone.

"Ah, just hurry up and fight already!" Iruka frustratedly yelled.

On hearing this, Naruto wasted no time in running up to poor old Shika, and delivering a stellar uppercut to his lower jaw.

Shikamaru was sent flying through the air, and it was a scene to behold- for a split second, it looked as if he was floating in the air. When Shikamaru landed, he was about 5 feet away from where he started, and he laid there, on his back, with his arms and legs spread out, watching the clouds.

' _The clouds are so lucky... They don't have to go through troublesome stuff like this... How I wish I were a cloud, floating without worrying about anything...'_

Shikamaru's cloud watching was interrupted by Iruka's voice-

"Shikamaru, why don't you at least try to fight? We are holding these sparring sessions so that everyone can improve their taijutsu. If you laze around now, you will find life as a shinobi very difficult! Now don't just lay there, get up! We need to start the next spar!"

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru grumbled as he got up and dusted off the dirt on his clothes, and then walked up to Naruto, while rubbing his lower jaw. Naruto sure knew how to punch!

Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Even though he won, he didn't feel too happy. This win was as easy as stealing candy from kids! As Shikamaru approached him, he held out his right hand, and Shikamaru did the same, to make the seal of reconciliation.

They then joined the rest of the class to watch the upcoming spars among their classmates.

* * *

Hours later, Naruto was back at home from the academy. He was now waiting for his cup-ramen to cook, as he sat on his chair to eat. He was not feeling tired at all, and he wanted to train, but he decided it would be best if he asked Kurama what to do first. But, before he did that, he needed to have a snack of cup-ramen.

After the ramen cooked, Naruto slowly ate the ramen with his chopsticks. Some things in life are best enjoyed when you do it slowly. After Naruto had finished eating, he drank a glass of water, and he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes to get to Kurama.

About a minute later, he was looking at an amused Kurama's face, smirking/smiling at Naruto.

" **So you have come to me to ask me what you should train in next, right?"**

"Yeah, I think that is quite obvious. I need to get my training done y'know. So, tell me, what should I do now?" Naruto asked eagerly.

" **Hmm... Let me see... I think you should work on your Kawarimi... You messed up big time this morning..."** Kurama said, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Hey! No need to laugh at me! Everybody makes mistakes! Besides, I did it perfectly last week during my fight with jiji! How did I get it right then?"

" **I don't really know about that..."** Kurama said as he smothered all traces of his laughter. **"... But I have come up with two reasons from my observations. Number one, you were running when you tried to do the Kawarimi this morning, while you were standing still when you did it last week. And, Number two, plain luck. I think both reasons have contributed to your perfect Kawarimi last week..."**

Naruto felt a bit insulted when Kurama told him reason 2, but he knew that it was true. Naruto had often **Kawarimied** with the wrong object when he practiced the Jutsu, but he thought that it was a problem of the past ever since his fight with the Hokage... until today... It seems Naruto had a bit of work to do...

" **Ah, and Naruto, there are a few things I must tell you before I forget to do so..."** Kurama said as he switched to lecture mode- **"Based on my observations throughout my life, I know a few things about the Kawarimi. I am telling you this only because I think you have some potential with this particular Jutsu. As the Hokage told you, the chakra cost of performing the Kawarimi increases with the size of the object... what he didn't tell you was that, when the object gets smaller than a certain size, which is, smaller than the size of those logs of wood you usually practice with, the chakra cost increases as well. It is possible to Kawarimi with things as small as a Kunai, but not smaller than that, so, no shuriken Kawarimi. I would say that, it takes about as much chakra to Kawarimi with a regular kunai as much as it takes to Kawarimi with... umm... your bed at the same distance. I don't know if this is accurate, but, with your current reserves and chakra control, I think you can do that about 10 times before chakra exhaustion sets in. Also, if the body you want to Kawarimi with has more chakra, you have to expend more chakra to perform the Kawarimi. Moving on, you should also remember that most kekkai ninjutsu (barrier techniques) have a mechanism to prevent a Kawarimi user from bypassing the barrier. Only jikukan ninjutsu (space-time) ninjutsu can bypass barriers, and I don't think you will learn any of those any time soon..."**

Naruto was listening eagerly to Kurama's lecture. Whenever it is something to do with training, Naruto finds lectures interesting. Kurama continued his lecture-

" **... Now, coming to your training, what you should be working should be to first perfect your Kawarimi, then reduce the number of seals required until you can perform it seal-lessly."**

"Wait, what? Seal-less Kawarimi? How is that even possible?" Naruto asked, really surprised.

" **It is possible, because must Jounin that I have seen can do it. If you practice enough, you should be able to get it as well. It may take a few years, but you will get it eventually."** Kurama said, as if he was telling a kid that they can learn to read, eventually.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit excited at this... He would be able to do something that any of his classmates would be able to do, and by the sound of it, even some Jounin couldn't do!

" **So... Are you ready, Naruto?"**

"Pfft! Please! Is that even a question?"

" **Then what are you waiting for? Get started already!"**

"Roger that!"

Naruto couldn't wait to start his training!

* * *

Chapter finished!

Sorry that it was a bit short!

Now, I know that I said you can expect a time-skip soon, but it may be coming sooner than you expected, most likely the next chapter.

Also, I hope that my Kawarimi theory is explained pretty well... if you think there is some fault with it, please do tell me!

I am also considering a change in outfit for Naruto... and, he may be a teeny weeny bit OOC after the time-skip due to his interactions with Kurama.

Did I forget anything? I hope not!

And don't forget to tell me what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**a/n-** Hello everyone! Get ready for chapter 8!

And yes, the time-skip has come!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 8**

 _2 ½ years later..._

It was yet another beautiful morning in Konohagakure no Sato. The sun was rising, and the sky was painted a brilliant orange colour in the East. The birds were chirping, and the green leaves of the trees surrounding a certain clearing were rustling, thanks to a cold breeze blowing through the clearing.

At the edge of the clearing were many logs that had many scars from the constant pounding they took. There were also a few stray kunai stuck on the trees surrounding the clearing. And, in the middle of the clearing was a 12-year old blond holding two kunai, one with his left hand, and another with his mouth, wearing a plain black half-sleeved t-shirt, orange pants, and blue sandals, along with a kunai pouch strapped to his right thigh. His name was Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto was facing the very same tree he had learnt the tree walking on. However, this time, his objective was not at the top of the tree, it was behind the tree, where there was a standard **Kawarimi** log.

Naruto ran forward in a burst of speed as he threw the kunai he held in his left hand to the right of the tree, about one foot wide, and as the kunai flew past the tree, Naruto, who was still running, was concentrating really hard. He had spent a big chunk of his 2 ½ years on perfecting and reducing the number of hand seals required for performing the Jutsu he was about to perform...

' _ **Kawarimi no Jutsu!**_ _'_ Naruto mentally shouted, and, instantly, he was replaced with the very kunai he had thrown seconds ago.

Naruto was now floating mid-air, about 15 feet away from his target, 10 feet above ground level, moving through the air with the same velocity he was running at, and he was falling to the ground as well. Naruto quickly took the kunai he held with his mouth in his right hand, and threw it as hard as he accurately could at his target, the **Kawarimi** log, before he hit the ground.

The kunai hit the log dead-centre and the log fell backwards. Naruto was very pleased to see this and as he landed on both of his feet, he was already shouting, with a grin plastered on his face-

"Yes! I finally did it! Hahaha! Am I great or what?"

Naruto then walked up to the log and pulled out his kunai from the log. Of course, he was not rich enough to simply throw kunai around like they were disposable.

He then retrieved his remaining kunai, and then **Kawarimied** with a certain log, which was right next to his favourite new orange jacket, which was hanging from the branch of a tree. He put on his jacket as he walked back to his apartment. It was a very special day today, and there was no way Naruto was going to be late today!

* * *

About half an hour later, Naruto was in his apartment, clean and fresh, sitting on his bed with a full stomach. From the outside world, it may seem like Naruto was day-dreaming, but actually, he was having a chat with his best friend.

"...and that's why I should become the Hokage! Kurama? Kurama?! Argh! Why do you always fall asleep?!" An enraged Naruto shouted, as Kurama, who was just pretending to sleep to tick Naruto off, smiled in his mind as he 'woke up'.

" **Oh, sorry about that. It's just that your lectures are really boring."** Kurama said, in a not so sorry tone.

Naruto just grumbled something about stupid foxes, and he was about to leave when he remembered something.

"Oi, Kurama... Do you think I am ready to do it?" Naruto asked, really uncertain.

" **How many times do I have to tell you that I will tell you when I think that you are ready?!"** Kurama shouted at Naruto, standing up on all fours, and he proceeded to scold Naruto even more- **"Your father built this seal in such a way that the amount of my chakra going through your pathways will increase gradually with time, so that there is more of a learning curve when you try to control my chakra. You must wait for the seal to weaken naturally and learn to control my chakra, slow and steady. There is still a small amount of negative emotions in your heart, which is not a good thing! If you release the seal now, you could actually turn into me, and you will die, and I'll take over your Kyuubified body!"**

"Why do you have to keep overreacting over this? Oww... My poor ear..." Naruto said, nursing his poor ears.

" **That's because you keep on asking me the same question over and over and over again!"** Kurama said, very annoyed. That was when Kurama decided to tell Naruto something-

" **Oi, Naruto, don't you have that stupid graduation exam of yours today?"**

"Oh come on! Why do I always have to be late?!" Naruto shouted, knowing that he was going to be late for the test. Kurama never reminded him of his class until the very last minute.

"See you later Kurama" Naruto said as he vanished.

' _ **Knowing you, I don't think you will need it, but, good luck Naruto.'**_ Kurama mentally said, as he sat back down, and watched what Naruto did...

* * *

A few minutes later, Naruto was running through the corridors leading to his classroom. He was running late, but he was not too worried. After all, he had an ace up his seal that he had been saving up for a day like this...

Naruto could now see the door leading to his classroom. He stopped and let a grin form on his face as he performed his signature (for an academy student) Jutsu- the seal-less **Kawarimi**.

Instantly, Naruto was substituted into his classroom, and the first thing he noticed was that two girls were fighting for the seat next to him. The second thing he noticed was that Iruka was yet to come to the classroom. He was sitting on the left side of one of the two-person benches in his classroom, right next to the sliding glass window.

' _Great, looks like I am early on the very day I use that trick... Bummer..."_ Naruto thought. By some miracle, Kurama had told him to get to his classroom on time. He had become so used to Kurama reminding him of his class only when he was late, that he didn't even bother checking his clock.

However, in his excitement to see if his trick worked, Naruto didn't see the shocked faces of the two girls fighting for the seat next to him, namely, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino.

"Argh! Where did Sasuke-kun go?!" both of Sasuke's fangirls shouted. They were apparently fighting over the seat next to Sasuke, and bam! Instead of Sasuke, there was Naruto sitting in his place.

Naruto grimaced at this. He never liked Sasuke, and one of the things he hated about Sasuke was that he got all the girls, just because he is a genius, and all he did was sit there, brooding all day long. Well... at least Naruto had one girl who liked him... though she was not as aggressive as Sasuke's fangirls, once Naruto started paying attention to Hinata, he realised that she almost always kept an eye on him, and sometimes, he felt like he was being stalked... At first, Naruto didn't know if he should feel proud that he had a fangirl, or feel creeped out, but as the years passed, Naruto got used to it, and, once he started to notice her, maybe he did like her a bit...

Naruto shook off these thoughts from his mind. He needed to keep his mind focused for the upcoming exams... That was when a question popped into his mind-

"Hey, where is Sasuke-teme?"

"That's what we are asking you Naruto!" Sakura shouted at him.

"We know that you have something to do with this, so stop playing the baka!" Ino shouted.

"Please, Ino, you could have used a better phrase. Naruto can't play the baka, he is a baka!" Sakura said.

"Touché." Ino said, agreeing to Sakura's statement.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit insulted. Inside his seal, Kurama said, while laughing his ass off- **"Hahaha! Those girls know the truth! Hahaha!"**

Kiba, who had overheard this conversation commented, while trying to hold back a laugh- "Apply cold water to burned area." And then, he burst out laughing.

Naruto merely grumbled at this. Not getting ticked off at insults like this was a part of Naruto's training to control Kurama's chakra. According to Kurama, if Naruto could shrug off insults like this, he could control his anger better, and thus, also the Bijuu chakra. Of course, this doesn't mean that he will just let this insult go unanswered... He will get back on them for this... Someday... Nobody messes with Konoha's number one prankster!

It was at that very moment that the classroom doors opened, and Iruka entered the class, followed by a certain Uchiha.

The classroom went dead silent. Everyone settled down in their seats, and as for the seat next to Naruto, it was left empty, since Sakura and Ino went and found some other seat.

"Forever alone..." Kiba murmured a comment from the seat behind Naruto.

"Shut up!" Naruto murmured back.

Iruka faced all his pupils, minus Sasuke, who was also facing his classmates, standing beside Iruka. Iruka said. "Good morning students. Now, as you all know, we have the graduation exams today. I hope that all of you pass the exam, and it is quite easy. Ah! And Sasuke, you can take a seat now."

On hearing this, Sasuke went and sat down in the only empty seat in the classroom- the seat right next to Naruto- while giving Naruto the evil eye.

' _Looks like I was finally able to piss off the Uchiha! Yes! Although I don't know what happened, I will never forget this day!'_ Naruto thought.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was sitting in his 'brooding pose', thinking about ways to get back at Naruto for what he did...

 _Flashback_

The first thing Sasuke noticed was that he was no longer in his classroom. And the second thing he noticed was that he was on the floor, and his butt hurt a lot.

Sasuke got up, rubbing his butt, and soon found out that he was in the corridor right outside his classroom.

' _How did I get here? Hey... Wait a minute... This must be one of the dobe's pranks... Yes! This must be the same thing he did to Iruka-sensei a couple of years ago! The_ _ **Kawarimi**_ _!'_

Sasuke was feeling a bit pissed off about this situation, but then, he got a great idea to get back on Naruto-

' _If this works for him, why can't I try it out on him myself?'_

Sasuke went through the necessary hand-seals for the **Kawarimi** and he shouted " **Kawarimi no Jutsu!** " as he tried to substitute himself with Naruto.

However, instead of being transported into his classroom, Sasuke felt his body weaken, and his legs gave away, and he was on the floor, face down, unconscious.

The next thing Sasuke knew was that he was staring at Iruka's face. Iruka was holding Sasuke's head and back off the floor, with his legs and butt still touching the floor.

"Iruka-sensei..." Sasuke said, his voice a bit weak. "...What happened?"

Iruka let out a sigh of relief on seeing that Sasuke was OK. He said "I should be the one asking you that question. I found you on the floor unconscious. I gave you a soldier pill. Apparently, you were suffering from chakra exhaustion... By any chance, did you attempt a **Kawarimi** with something other than a standard **Kawarimi** log?"

"Well... Iruka-sensei..." Sasuke said, a bit embarrassed- "I was **Kawarimied** out of the classroom by someone, whom I think was Naruto... and I tried to perform a **Kawarimi** with Naruto to get back inside... and this happened..."

Iruka frowned as he said- "Sasuke, I think I told everyone to never try a trick like that again. The Kawarimi may be an E-Rank ninjutsu, but there is a reason why most shinobi use it in battle only as a last resort- if, you try to Kawarimi with the wrong object, by accident or on purpose, the chakra cost would be very high, and you could suffer from chakra exhaustion. It is a good thing that you can't access 100% of your chakra like most Jounin can, or else, you would be dead now! This is why we tell all of the academy students to refrain from practising the **Kawarimi** without supervision."

"But what about Naruto? He **Kawarimied** with you a couple of years ago, and he didn't fall unconcious!" Sasuke said, regaining a bit of his voice.

"Well..." Iruka said hesitantly. The Kyuubi was always a touchy subject with Naruto. "...Let's say, it's his Kekkai Genkai... Oh, look at the time! We are getting late!" Iruka said, quickly changing the subject.

Sasuke felt that there was something fishy with this, but he let it slide, and he followed Iruka into the classroom.

 _End Flashback_

Sasuke was keeping an eye on Naruto, with one question in his mind-

' _Just how good are you, Naruto?'_

Naruto was doing a pretty good job of not feeling creeped out from the way the Uchiha was looking at him. After all, years of pretending to not notice Hinata had prepared him for this.

"OK, now, today's exam has both a practical part and a written part..." Iruka's voice resounded in the otherwise dead-silent classroom- "We will do the written part first. It is relatively simple, it consists of 30 questions, and you have one hour. Now I want all of you to come here one by one and take your pencil and question paper." Iruka said as he took out a scroll from his pocket, placed it on the desk, and unsealed it's contents, and viola! On the desk were a bundle of pencils and pile of papers.

A few minutes later, every single student was sitting in their seat with their pencil and paper, face down, on their desk, waiting for Iruka to signal the start of the exam.

"Alright, your time starts..." Iruka said, as he started the stopwatch he held in his right hand- "...NOW!"

At that very moment, all of the students quickly turned their papers, producing a fluttering sound, as if a flock of birds just took flight.

Naruto, whom most would expect to be extremely nervous, was wearing a huge grin on his face. He had no reason to be stressed. After all he had an ace up his sleeve...

Naruto closed his eyes, and moments later, he was standing in front of a very much awake Kurama.

"So, what's the answer to the first question." Naruto asked.

" **What? You are going to ask me the answers of these stupid questions? This is an insult to me!"** Kurama said, genuinely feeling insulted.

"Oh come on! I never asked you to do something like this before! You can't let me down now Kurama!" Naruto pleaded.

" **Grrr... Kunai..."**

"Huh?"

" **The answer to your damn question!"**

"Oh, yeah right! Thanks Kurama! I'll be right back!" Naruto said, as he went back to his classroom to write down his answer, and went back to Kurama to get the answer to the next question.

' _This exam is going to be a piece of cake!'_

* * *

An hour later, all of the students had given their papers back to Iruka, who had sealed it back into the scroll he took it from, and had it sent for marking.

"Now class, you will be following me to take your practical exams."

Iruka walked out of the classroom, and his students followed. A bit later, they were all standing outside the academy building, in their training grounds. The very training ground where Sasuke had creamed Naruto numerous times- their taijutsu sparring ground.

With them, there was another man, with shoulder-length silver hair, wearing the standard Konoha chuunin outfit, along with a bandana covering the top of his head.

Iruka proceeded to introduce the man- "This is my colleague Mizuki, and he will be assisting me in conducting the practical exams. He will be the proctor for the first part of the exam, which, as you may have guessed, is a taijutsu proficiency test. You will all get one match with one of your classmates, and I will score you based on your performance. You will get bonus points for winning. You can win by forcing your opponent out of the ring, or if your opponent is unable to fight. And remember, taijutsu only!" Iruka turned to Mizuki and said- "Now, Mizuki, can you please read out the match-ups?"

"With pleasure" Mizuki said while smiling- "The first match is..."

"Uchiha Sasuke vs Uzumaki Naruto"

* * *

Whoo! Chapter finished!

So... What do you think? Was the time-skip a bit too early? Did Naruto learn the Seal-less **Kawarimi** a bit too fast? Is there something I forgot? Did it feel a bit rushed? Whatever it is, please let me know!


	9. Chapter 9

**a/n-** Oh my god! I can't believe how hard the Laziness no Jutsu hit me this time! It's because of the upcoming fight... You see, this is the first actual fight scene I am ever going to write, so, I was a bit confused as to what I have to write... I wonder if this is what they call writer's block? Oh, and please bear with me if this fight is a bit... crappy... At this point, I have no idea at all as to who is going to win this fight!

Anyway, let the chapter begin!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 9**

It was a bright, cloudless day in Konohagakure no Sato, with the sun still 1-2 hours away from reaching it's peak. At the academy, in a certain outdoor sparring ring, two academy students -Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke- were facing each other, 10 feet apart, making the seal of confrontation, and they both had very determined looks on their faces.

The ring had a diameter of 25 feet, which isn't too much space for a shinobi to fight in. Right outside the ring were the proctor of the match, Mizuki, and the judge, Iruka, and a bit further away were the rest of Iruka's students who would be entering that very ring to fight each other in an effort to graduate from the academy and finally become ninjas.

On any other day, everyone would say that Naruto doesn't stand half a chance against Sasuke in a fight. However, today, Sasuke was... different... It was very subtle, but those who knew him well, especially his fangirls, could tell that he appeared a bit... tired... Even though Sasuke had taken a soldier pill to try and replenish the chakra he had lost when he tried to perform the 'trick', there was still a slight deficiency of chakra in his system, and, while taijutsu doesn't normally consume chakra, your physical capabilities **do** take a hit when you are low on chakra, so, it's fair to say that Sasuke had a handicap big enough to actually worry about losing to a perfectly fit and healthy Naruto.

Both Naruto and Sasuke were waiting for Mizuki to give the signal to start the match.

"Hajime!" Mizuki shouted.

Naruto and Sasuke sprung into action, straight at each other. With his right fist, Naruto tried to punch Sasuke in the face, but Sasuke blocked the blow and caught Naruto's fist with his left hand, leaving Naruto wide open for a counter attack.

Sasuke mustered all the strength he could to deliver a punch to Naruto's ribs with his free hand. Naruto winced with pain, but it didn't hurt too much, thanks to the cushioning effect produced by his (relatively) thick jacket. Sasuke was expecting Naruto to be doubling over in pain after a punch like that and then, he planned to control the match from then on, but, thanks to the cushioning effect, and Sasuke's chakra deficiency, Naruto was able to counter by performing a clockwise kick.

Sasuke let go of Naruto's fist and jumped backwards to dodge the kick. However, Naruto didn't let Sasuke catch a breath, as he rushed at Sasuke, sliding in an attempt to knock Sasuke off his feet.

Sasuke jumped over Naruto, and landed where Naruto was a second ago. Naruto got up quickly, but before he could get into a proper stance, Sasuke was already on him, and delivered a left uppercut to Naruto's jaw.

Naruto flew a few feet, thanks to the blow with Sasuke's dominant hand, and landed on his back just a foot away from the edge of the ring.

Sasuke just stood there, waiting for Naruto to get up, so that he can knock him out of the ring. The reason Sasuke was not attacking while Naruto was down was because, in a taijutsu only fight, attacking an opponent on his back was not necessarily a good thing, because your opponent can counter with kicks easier in that position, and we all know that kicks hurt worse than punches.

Naruto got up as quickly as he could, and he was met with the sight of an Uchiha flying with his left foot extended, aimed at his face. Naruto did the only thing he could think of- duck!

Sasuke was caught off by this. Apparently, the chakra exhaustion influenced Sasuke's reaction time as well, and he was a bit late in performing the kick. Sasuke was now right above Naruto's ducking figure, and, in a last ditch attempt to not lose by ring-out, he grabbed the back of Naruto's jacket's collar. He didn't know what the consequences would be for this simple move.

Naruto felt his throat being crushed from the sudden jerk produced by Sasuke's attempt to stop himself. Naruto's eyes widened as he coughed up his own blood and went down on his knees. His throat was deformed really bad, and he was not able to breathe.

" **Well... That escalated quickly!"** Kurama said from inside the seal. He had developed a somewhat twisted sense of humour over the years. **"But... This is bad... the gaki could actually die... and... Yes! That could work!"** Kurama said, for once, excitedly.

Back in the outside world, everyone was watching the scene that unfolded before them with shock. Training fatalities were very rare in Konohagakure, and this looked like it was going to be one of those rare statistics. Naruto's classmates had their eyes wide open, disbelieving the scene that just happened, and Hinata's eyes were welling up with tears. She yelled-"Naruto-kun!". You hardly ever survive a crushed throat like the one Naruto had, and it seemed that this was the end for Naruto.

Sasuke was standing, wide-eyed, staring with shock at Naruto as he fell to the ground face first, while holding his neck. Sasuke was not okay with this. He didn't want to be responsible for his classmate's death. Sasuke's eyes turned red for a brief moment (I mean, the pupils). His sharingan had activated briefly, and both eyes had two tomoe. If it were under different circumstances, Sasuke would have been celebrating, but now, nobody, including Sasuke, was aware of this development. All eyes were on Naruto.

Iruka however, didn't just stand there like everyone else was, he yelled at Mizuki- "Don't just stand there Mizuki! Go get a medic! Quick!" Iruka said as he ran to Naruto's side, and Mizuki said- "Uh, oh yeah! Medic!" as he ran off.

Once Mizuki was out of sight, he took on an evil smile- _'You asked me to get a medic for the demon! Pfft! As if I am going to do that! It's a good thing that it is going to die right now without me doing anything!'_

* * *

Back with Naruto, he was now lying face down on the ground, clutching his throat, panicking, not knowing what to do. If he didn't act fast, he would be dead.

' _Urgh! I can't believe this is happening to me! I can't die yet! I am yet to become the Hokage!'_ Naruto told himself.

' _I don't know what is worse, dying due to a head cracked by a tree or... Hey wait a minute! I can go to Kurama to ask what to do!'_ thinking this Naruto concentrated on getting to Kurama.

Seconds later, Naruto was lying on his chest in front of Kurama, blood streaming from his mouth, raising his head to look at Kurama with the last ounces of strength in his body. However, Kurama had an uncharacteristic feral grin plastered on his face. He said while laughing- **"Ha! So this is all my container is capable of! Death by crushed throat during spar! How pathetic!"**

Naruto got ticked off by this. He was about to tell Kurama that it was not the time for jokes, but no voice would come from his throat.

" **Don't even bother speaking. You are so weak, that you can't even speak! Ah! Now you are literally dumb! Hahaha! No wonder I was able to manipulate you so easily!"** Kurama said, with an evil grin plastered on his face.

Naruto was feeling very insulted as well as confused. Why is Kurama acting like this?

" **You still don't get it? This was all part of my plan to finally get out of your wretched body! I was carrying out the plan ever since we met! Everyday, I would force my chakra into your chakra network while you train! That way, the chakra in your system is being replaced by my chakra, and, all you need to know is that I had made arrangements so that when you die, I can get out of this damn seal! In fact, I had been waiting for this to happen for months! And when I finally get out of here today, I will start by destroying this damn village of yours!"**

To say that Naruto was shocked was an understatement. He was thunderstruck! He couldn't believe that Kurama, whom he had seen as his best friend, had betrayed him like this! Their 'friendship' was just one big lie! Naruto felt like crying at first, but when he heard that Kurama would be destroying Konoha's, a new emotion exploded inside him- Anger. And not just ordinary anger, Naruto was furious.

Naruto's face was now making an expression filled with pure hatred for Kurama. The negative emotions in his heart had increased a lot. If Naruto could, he would have shouted some big dialogues at Kurama, but now that his throat was crushed, he couldn't, and this was adding to Naruto's anger.

From the other side of the barrier separating Naruto and Kurama, Kurama was feeling relieved that his plan was working.

' _ **iI am sorry for doing this, Naruto... If you are to survive, this is the only way...'**_ Kurama thought, as his own chakra flooded Naruto's chakra system.

* * *

Back in the real world, everyone was awestruck once again, not because of the pool of blood next to Naruto's head, but from the malevolent red chakra that was now surrounding Naruto. It was twisting like a twister around him, and at the top, had taken the shape of the Kyuubi's head, while Naruto was still lying unconscious on the floor, heads down.

Iruka had to step away from Naruto because of the red chakra.

' _This is bad! The Kyuubi is getting out! I have to do something! But what?'_ Iruka thought. However, when he saw Sasuke dangerously close to the red chakra, he remembered what he had to do- _'Oh yes! I have to protect the rest of my class!'_

"Everyone, get back! Stay away from Naruto now!" Iruka shouted, sweating profusely. He was extremely nervous now. After all, who wouldn't be nervous when you are dealing with the Kyuubi?

All of Iruka's students followed Iruka's order, backing away from Naruto. They had absolutely no idea as to what the hell was happening. One moment, they were hoping that Naruto would miraculously make it out of his situation alive, and now, they were hoping that they themselves made it out alive. Some of the students even pissed in their pants due to fear of the sheer malevolence of the chakra... And one of them was able to figure out just what that chakra was...

' _That head... It looks just like the head of the Kyuubi... Could it be? The Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto? Yes! That would explain all the looks he got from the grown-ups...'_ Shikamaru thought.

Meanwhile, Sasuke, who was standing a good 30 feet away from Naruto was baffled by this development. A few moments ago, he was sure that Naruto was dead, but then, **this** happened.

' _Naruto... Just what are you?'_

Iruka had his kunai on the ready, taking up a defensive stance in front of his students.

Naruto was still on the ground, not moving at all. It was safe to conclude that Naruto was dead, and the seal had somehow broken due to it and the Kyuubi was escaping.

All of a sudden, just as Iruka was about to order his students to run away, the red chakra suddenly vanished.

All of them let out a sigh of relief. Iruka was relieved that Konoha was not going to be destroyed.

"Iruka-sensei... What just happened?" Kiba asked.

"I... I don't know..." Iruka lied. He was one of the two people among the crowd that witnessed this who knew what was happening.

The other person who knew what just happened, Shikamaru, just kept quiet, because it would be too troublesome trying to explain his theory and reasoning. Besides, he knew that Iruka knew exactly what was happening and he knew that if Iruka was pretending that he didn't know what he actually knew, he should also pretend that he knew nothing.

"I-Iruka-s-sensei, w-will N-N-Naruto-kun be O-Okay?" Hinata asked hoping that she got a positive response, with a lump in her throat, tears streaming from her eyes.

"It doesn't seem so..." Iruka said, himself very sad, gazing at Naruto's dead body.

However, as soon as he said this, Naruto's body disappeared, and in his place was a **Kawarimi** log.

"What the..." Iruka couldn't complete his sentence as he saw a kunai right in front of his face. Iruka was too shocked to react. He just froze. However, before the kunai embedded itself onto Iruka's face, it was replaced by a blond with pale skin wearing an orange jacket, who also happened to have blood dripping from his mouth.

"Boo!" the blond said.

"Argh! Ghost!" Iruka yelled, and he fainted.

The pale figure sweatdropped. "Looks like I went a bit overboard there! He he!"

He then saw his classmates. All of them were staring at Naruto with white faces. And they looked like they were frozen in their places.

Naruto dropped his **Henge** and returned to his normal self, and everybody's eyes widened when they saw that his throat was perfectly OK.

Everyone was still staring at him.

"What? You seriously thought that I was going to die from something like that? Pfft! Have some faith in your future Hokage dattebayo!"

This broke everyone out of their stupor when they heard this. There were mixed reaction to the news that Naruto was still alive. Many were now scared of Naruto, which was perfectly logical. Who wouldn't be after what they had seen? However, since no damage was caused, the number of people in this group was limited to some extent. However, due to Naruto's awesome display, almost everyone thought that Naruto was immortal, or had some awesome Kekkai Genkai (which was kinda true). Some were just glad that Naruto was still alive, and this group included most of the soon-to-be rookie 9. Sasuke belonged to all of the above groups. He was a teeny weeny bit scared by Naruto's power, and he was convinced that Naruto had a Kekkai Genkai, and a subtle irrational part of him was wondering whether Naruto was immortal. But most of all, he was glad that he didn't kill Naruto, and Sasuke even had something on his face that nobody had seen in years- a smile. And there was one group that was extremely happy that Naruto was still alive, consisting of just one person- Hinata, who had tears of happiness on her face. If Hinata were an ordinary girl, she would have ran up to Naruto and given him a hug, but, Hinata being Hinata, she just stood there, smiling, glad that Naruto was alive.

Everyone was itching to ask Naruto what he had done, but it was at this moment that an ANBU wearing a cat mask with intricate green and red marks appeared right behind Naruto.

' _Oh... It seems I didn't have to do anything. And Naruto appears to be safe... Good.'_ The ANBU thought to himself before making his presence known to Naruto.

"Naru-"

Naruto jumped, surprised by someone suddenly appearing behind him.

"Hey! Don't surprise me like that!" Naruto shouted at the ANBU.

The ANBU ignored this, and he continued- "Hokage-sama has asked you to meet him as soon as possible."

Naruto was sort of expecting this. He knew that something like this wouldn't go unnoticed by the Hokage. But nevertheless, Naruto still cringed when he heard this.

"Yeah... I am coming..." Naruto said.

"Just a minute." The ANBU said. "There is one more thing I have to do before we go." He walked up to Iruka, who waking up from his short sleep. The ANBU told Iruka- "I'll be taking Naruto to Hokage-sama. Naruto will be back by noon. And please do carry on the graduation exam."

Iruka nodded his head.

The ANBU then walked back to Naruto.

"Let's go Naruto." The ANBU said.

Naruto complied and followed the ANBU on The Road to Hokage. (See what I did there?)

* * *

Naruto was now standing in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, in his office. Naruto was nervous now, not because he felt that he had done anything wrong, but because he was worried that he would miss the graduation exams. He wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.

"Naruto-kun..." Hiruzen spoke "...would you please explain why the Kyuubi's chakra was released from your seal?"

Naruto knew that there was no way around this, and tried to give an explanation that was as short as possible, yet, satisfactory. Naruto began- "Well... It all started because Sasuke-teme crushed my throat, by accident (I think. Or else he would have killed me years ago.) I went into the seal to ask Kurama for help, but he started to insult me and told me that he betrayed me and he was going to destroy Konoha-" Hiruzen gasped at this. Hiruzen still couldn't bring himself to trust the Kyuubi, even after 2 years had passed since Naruto established contact with the Kyuubi.

Naruto caught this gasp and said casually- "Don't sorry, it was all part of Kurama's plan to get me really angry, and then, somehow loosen the seal, and get me to use enough of his chakra to heal my throat, which is why I am talking to you right now. Kurama explained all of this to me once my throat had healed, and it was around then that my rage subsided and the effect of Kurama's chakra wore off."

Hiruzen took all of this in. He found Naruto's reply satisfactory, as this explained everything that happened in the last 10 minutes. Hiruzen then said- "Very well... Thank you for your time Naruto-kun. You may now go back to take the remainder of your graduation exam."

Naruto grinned as he turned around and ran for the door, yelling- "See ya later jiji!"

Hiruzen just smiled at this. He had been initially worried that the Kyuubi had corrupted Naruto, but it seemed that Naruto was still the old Naruto he knew... And maybe the Kyuubi, or rather, Kurama, was not really as bad as he thought he was... Hiruzen let go of these thoughts nos... He needed a break...

Hiruzen's smile grew exponentially wider as he took out a certain book from his drawer. Which book it was? 2 clues- 1) It had an orange cover and 2) It was written by one of his students... Yes, that's right, it was the book Hiruzen regularly read for research- The Wonders of Iryō Ninjutsu by Senju Tsunade. (What? You thought that Jiraiya was the only one who could write?)

Meanwhile, Naruto was running full speed ahead to the academy.

' _No way am I going to miss the graduation exam dattebayo!'_

* * *

Phew! That took me way longer to write than I thought it would!

I honestly had no idea that Naruto would go through another life-or-death situation up until the part where Naruto ducked!

Oh, and if you think that I made a mountain out of a molehill with the throat crushing part, I did some research, and here is what I read- It takes as much force to crush a throat as it does to crush an empty soda can, though I really don't recommend that you try to verify this.

Oh! And don't forget to tell me what you think about this chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

**a/n-** It's been a long while... Since I've updated... And I'll tell you all about it at the end of the chapter... We've come a long way... To the 10th chapter... Oh I'll tell you all about it at the end of the chapter... at the end of the chapter...

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 10**

Naruto was feeling a bit nervous now... What he was about to do now would probably be the one of the hardest things in his life yet...

After his meeting with the Hokage, Naruto actually got back to the academy pretty early. In fact, he made it back with 8 more fights still left between his classmates. It turns out that Mizuki returned pretty late after he set off to 'find a medic', and Iruka couldn't start the matches without a proctor. This way, a lot of time was wasted, which was a good thing for Naruto, since he didn't miss much of the action.

When all the matches were done and dusted, Naruto was getting really excited, knowing that Iruka would declare what the next stage would be pretty soon... Only for Iruka to announce that the next stage was... The lunch break...

Coming back to the present, Naruto was now sitting under the shade of a tree in the academy grounds, with a half-full stomach. It is not really a good idea to eat too much when you are about to do any strenuous physical activity... which would most probably be involved in the next part of the exam. The sun was at it's peak now. Naruto was sweating, not just because of the heat, but also because of the nervousness he was going through.

' _OK, I have to do this sometime or the other, so I better get this over with, right here, right now! Go!'_ Naruto thought as he closed his eyes and journeyed deep into the seal that held Kurama...

When Naruto arrived, he was faced with a Kurama who was lying down, eyes closed, with an annoyed expression on his face.

Kurama gave no visible response when Naruto arrived, and this was making Naruto feel bad. He was at least expecting to be yelled at.

Naruto, who was still uncertain as to what to say, asked- "Oi, Kurama... You still mad at me?"

Kurama gave no response.

' _OK, this is not going to be easy...'_ Naruto thought, and then he said, trying to sound as reasonable as possible- "Look, Kurama. I was just too angry go make sense of stuff at that time, and I am really sorry about what happened."

" **Sorry for what?"** Kurama finally responded, still wearing that annoyed expression on his face.

Naruto took in a deep breath, as he prepared to speak- "Sorry for calling you a backstabbing son of a bitch."

" **And?"**

"A bloody ****ing monster."

" **And?"**

"Madara's pussy cat."

" **Really, Naruto, what sort of books do you read when I am asleep? I never remember anyone using phrases like the ones you used in front of me."** Kurama said, who had dropped the annoyed look on his face, and he now looked more like a concerned parent.

Naruto was glad that Kurama was not going to be angry with him anymore. Initially, he thought that he was at risk of losing one of his few friends. Naruto really didn't want to lose his friendship with Kurama, which was why he was worried. But it looks like everything would be back to normal now. Anyway, he had to answer a question that Kurama asked...

"Oh, umm... I uh... actually heard stuff like this when some grown ups got drunk and they, y-know, act all weird when they get drunk, and then... eh eh! The 'Madara's pussy cat' one is totally my creation though!" Naruto said with a grin while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

" **Well, those profanities you learnt may come in useful when you need to taunt an enemy, provided that you do not get ticked off by the enemy first... However..."** Kurama said, his face becoming more serious- **"...there are more serious issues to discuss, Naruto."**

On hearing this, Naruto dropped his grin and he adopted an expression like that of a soldier listening to the debriefing of his mission.

Glad to see that Naruto was taking things seriously, Kurama spoke- **"You may be aware that the only reason you are still alive now is because you were able to draw into my chakra in large quantities, thanks to the weakening of the seal, as a result of my fantastic plan."** Naruto coughed. Kurama continued- **"As you have seen today, drawing into my chakra vastly improves your regenerative capabilities. However, these are not the only things it does- using my chakra gives you enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes. Not only that, but almost all of your senses become more acute, which means better vision and much better sense of smell and hearing. However, your sense of taste and touch becomes worse, which means less pain for as long as you use my chakra. However, this is not always a good thing. If you don't feel pain, your body won't know which part it has to send chakra to regenerate itself, so the healing factor could be wasted if you can't feel your wounds. Got all of that?"** Kurama asked.

Naruto nodded his head. Except for the first part, Kurama had repeated this lecture almost every week for the past 2 years. Kurama kept saying that he repeated this so that these things were hammered into Naruto's mind, so that he remembers this in the heat of battle. So Naruto just shut up, because he didn't feel like arguing with Kurama.

Kurama continued his lecture- **"I know that I have told all of this stuff to you before, but I never told you this- even with the seal loosened, the seal will only allow less than one tail of chakra to seep through at a time right now, and that too, only for a certain period of time, like, 2 minutes, before you have to wait for a certain period of time before you use my chakra again. So, don't go around using my chakra like it were your Kekkai Genkai. You never know when you will really need it."**

Naruto winced at this information. He was hoping that he would be able to use Kurama's chakra all the time, and become the kickass ninja he always wanted to be. Apparently, he was still a bit away from achieving that...

Just as Naruto was about to complain about this, Kurama spoke up again- **"Naruto, there is also another reason for not using my chakra too much... unless you learn to control it, my chakra consumes your mind, changing it into that of a beast who has only one thing in it's mind- to destroy. The less chakra you use, the slower this process is, and if you use large quantities of my chakra, like 4 tails or something, you will lose control of yourself. However, after this state subsides, you will regain control over yourself, but there will be a higher destructive tendency within you. So, until you learn to control my chakra, use my chakra only in small quantities.**

Naruto felt even more let down by this. First, he can't use Kurama's chakra for any long period of time, and then, he can't use them in large quantities until he could control Kurama's chakra. Speaking of which...

"Hey, but how do I learn to control your chakra?"

" **Ah, I was expecting that question sooner or later. Well, you see, the first stage of your training has already commenced. Remember all of those times I told you to keep cool and calm?"** Kura asked.

Naruto nodded to entertain Kurama. He very well knew what Kurama was going to say... Over the years, Kurama had opened up more and more to Naruto. However, when you are literally inseparable, and you chat everyday for more than 2 years, sooner or later, you will run out of stuff to talk about, and the conversations start to get a bit... Repetitive...

Kurama continued- **"You see, it was actually part of your training, because, as I have told you countless times, to control my chakra, you have to get rid of all negative emotions from your heart, which means no anger as well."**

Naruto then said- "No, I already know that, I was talking about, like, the next phase of this training."

" **Patience Naruto, I was coming to that..."** Kurama said, a bit annoyed that he was interrupted- **"The negative emotions in you is significantly lower than when you started, and for now, I think this is as good as things can get. Though I would have preferred that you got rid all of the negative emotions in your heart, it is easier said than done, and I would say that it is an impossible feat for humans to do..."**

"Oh yeah? I will make the impossible possible dattebayo! I will get rid of every ounce of this 'negative emotions' from my heart!" Naruto yelled.

Kurama groaned. He was half-expecting this. Even though Naruto had changed a lot in some things, old habits die hard. However, in his mind Kurama was smirking- _**'And, something tells me that you can do it... It's all a matter of time... But for now, starting with the second phase would be best...'**_

Kurama then spoke up- **"Yeah, yeah, good luck with that. Anyway, for the second part of your training you must..."** Kurama paused cruelly as he watched Naruto jumping up and down in excitement.

" **...get used to using my chakra."**

Naruto got really confused by this- "Wait a minute! Didn't you just say that using your chakra will turn me into a beast that just wants to destroy? How can I train like that then?"

Kurama did not expect this question. He said- **"Good to see that you have a brain in there."** Naruto was about to retaliate, but he just kept quiet. After all, he was the one that needed the answers. **"Well, I think it is safe to say that you have got rid of enough negative emotions to use really small portions of my chakra over extended periods of time without suffering any increase in negative emotions. So... hey, Naruto, I can sense someone approaching you... You better go back."**

"OK, bye Kurama!" Naruto said as he left the sewer seal.

* * *

When Naruto opened his eyes, all he saw at first were the blue sky, the ground, a few trees, and, of course, the academy. He saw no one approaching him... until a hand grabbed his shoulder...

"Boo!"

"Gaargh!" Naruto yelled as he turned around to face whoever surprised him... only to find out that it was a very amused Iruka...

"Hahaha! That will teach you to scare me!" Iruka said, laughing his ass off.

Naruto felt really insulted now. It is not everyday that the master prankster of Konoha gets pranked on... He will get Iruka back for this... In time... But first...

"Iruka-sensei! You came here just so that you could give me a jump-scare?" Naruto shouted. Of course, due to the time spent with arguably the most intelligent being in the shinobi world, Naruto was smart enough to know that Iruka was not the kind of person to play pranks, so he had come for some other purpose, most likely...

"Oh, yes! Naruto, you need to hurry up! The next stage of the exam is about to start! Come on let's go!" Iruka said as he extended his hand to Naruto.

"Oh, thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruto took Iruka's hand and used it for support to get up, and then followed Iruka to the venue of the next phase.

* * *

Naruto was now standing among his classmates, in the academy target practice ground, waiting for Iruka to tell them what the next phase was going to be about... but the venue itself was a dead giveaway as to what the next phase was going to be.

There was some whispering going on among the to-be-genin. Naruto could swear that he heard his name being spoken by the crowd from time to time, though he didn't show any visible reaction to this. Apparently, the mystery surrounding him and his 'Kekkai Genkai' was still the hot topic among the academy students.

"OK, everybody settle down!" Iruka said calmly. The crowd instantly went silent. He continued- "The next phase is going to be the accuracy test. In this phase, you will be throwing 10 kunai, or shuriken, depending on your choice, at any of these targets, again, depending on your choice..." Iruka pointed towards 3 wooden circular targets one foot wide, one about 20 feet away, the next one at 40 feet, and the last at a distance of 60 feet from a white line drawn on the ground.. He went on- "...you will get points for embedding your weapon on the target. Moreover, you will get more points for hitting a farther target. You have to throw your weapon from behind that white line over there. Failure to do so will result in a penalty. Any questions?" Iruka received no response. "OK, so let's begin this phase, and, best of luck!" Iruka said cheerfully.

Naruto was now grinning maniacally. As soon as he found out that he was allowed to use kunai for this phase, he knew that this one would be in the bag... after all, with all the training he did with the **kunai Kawarimi no Jutsu** , he was pretty sure that he was one of the best in class when it came to kunai-throwing, though shuriken were a completely different story. Naruto didn't really bother with shurikenjutsu, but he did have passable aim with shuriken, so, it was not really a big problem.

' _This is going to be a piece of cake!'_

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was having a really good time reading his student's book in his office... until a certain crippled old man, about as old as Hiruzen himself came along...

"Danzo! It's been a long time since I saw you! What brings you here?" Hiruzen asked with a smile on his face.

"Hiruzen, you know very well what I have come here for. I was able to sense the fox's chakra some time ago. Tell me, what happened?" Danzo asked, concern evident on his usually emotionless/pissed-off looking face.

"Guess there is no point in hiding anything from you... You would have found out sooner or later." Hiruzen said with a sigh. The truth was that several of Hiruzen's ANBU were able to sense the escape of the Kyuubi's chakra, and he was pretty sure that some of the Jounin, and most, if not all sensory types in the vicinity would have sensed the same. So, it was not a big surprise for Hiruzen that Danzo found out about this 'incident'.

For the moment, Hiruzen had convinced most of his shinobi that the seal was still intact, though a few were still very concerned about this.

Hiruzen explained the whole situation to Danzo, and Danzo listened, carefully. After all, the safety of the village may be at stake with this, and there is nothing Danzo would not do to protect his village.

"Hiruzen, you are soft as ever... Don't you think that you must have the seal inspected again?" Danzo questioned, after listening to the whole narration. Although he sounded dissatisfied, he was pretty happy that the seal had loosened, especially since they had a cooperative bijuu, and that too, the Kyuubi itself. What more can you ask for?

Hiruzen replied to Danzo's question- "The truth is, no one alive know more about the **Hakke no fuuin shiki** (Eight trigrams seal) than Jiraiya... So, I have sent for him to have the seal inspected."

"Well... that looks like the best thing you could do... though you may want to tell him to increase his pace... that pervert takes forever to get here!" Danzo said, with a ghost of a smile on his face. He continued- "I shall inform of this development to Homura and Kotarou... And when do you plan to inform of this to the clan heads and the civilians?"

Hiruzen said- "I have already called up a meeting of the clan heads for discussing this issue, and to discuss our plans for this year's graduates... As for the civilians, I think it is best that they do not know of this."

"I see..." Danzo said as he got up from his seat. "...I shall get going now, Hiruzen." and he proceeded to leave the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen was now left alone to process his thoughts. Though he had sent for Jiraiya to get the seal inspected, he was pretty sure that the seal was still intact. He had faith in the Yondaime's seal. Besides, Kurama had already proven his loyalty to Naruto, and there was no way Naruto would betray Konoha, so, even if there was anything wrong with the seal, there should not be anything to worry about... The real reason for summoning Jiraiya was to get the lonely boy some time with his godfather... Naruto lost both of his parents during the Kyuubi's attack, and his clan was virtually extinct, because of the destruction of Uzushiogakure... and it would be unfair that he didn't get time with his only 'family' because the smut writer had to keep spying (both in the bathhouse and other nations).

Besides, he needed to know when the next book will be released. (giggles perversely)

* * *

Naruto was really anxious now, standing in front of Iruka and Mizuki in a classroom, with a table filled with brand new shining hitai-ate on it. He was going to complete the last stage of his graduation exam and become a shinobi.

Earlier, in the accuracy test, Sasuke had scored a really well, using shuriken. He used his first shuriken to nail the nearest target, then, he used the next three shuriken on the second target, and he used the rest to hit the furthest target, 5 out of 6 times, and successfully embedded 4 of them on it. He scored 95 out of 150. (5 points for the nearest target, 10 for the next, and 15 for the furthest.)

Shuriken may be easy to throw, but they lack the momentum (and penetration) that kunai have.

This was exactly what Naruto thought as he proceeded to throw his kunai. He aimed his first kunai on the second target and... hit it! He proceeded to throw the rest of his kunai on the target. Pretty soon, he was left with just one more kunai.

That was when disaster struck. He missed the very last throw, by just one inch, resulting in 90 points, instead of 100, which meant that he was beaten by Sasuke by 5 points!

The sort of frustration Naruto went through was unbelievable. This was his chance to surpass his rival for the first time, and he blew it! It was like, you just... Y'know what? What Naruto went through was an indescribable pain that no one should go through.

After this, Naruto went out of sight (courtesy of the **Kawarimi no Jutsu** ) and vented out his frustration by punching a poor dummy. (A real dummy, not a stupid person)

On getting back, Naruto found out that the accuracy test was already over, and the next stage was... the ninjutsu stage.

Which brings us back to the present. Naruto was worried. In the Ninjutsu test, he was to perform a ninjutsu chosen at random by Iruka or Mizuki. And out of everything, they asked him to perform the one Jutsu he didn't really bother to train with- the **Bunshin no Jutsu**.

' _Ok, here I go...'_ Naruto thought to himself as he yelled- " **Bunshin no Jutsu**!" with his eyes closed, as he performed the Jutsu...

' _Please let it have worked, please let it have worked...'_ Naruto thought as he opened his eyes to find... Two perfect clones standing in front of him!

Naruto jumped for joy as he jumped onto the bunshins to give them a hug... only to go straight through them and fall on his face.

' _Oh, yeah, that's right, bunshins aren't material objects... I can't touch them... I am such a dumbass...'_ Naruto thought to himself as he got up and rubbed his nose.

Iruka had the biggest smile on his face in his lifetime. He was very happy that Naruto, his favourite student, had passed... He had just one more job to do...

He took a hitai-ate from the table and walked up to Naruto in slow-mo and said- "Naruto, please close your eyes."

Naruto let go of his aching nose and did what Iruka told him to do, with a huge grin on his face. The grin got wider as he felt a fabric tie around his head...

"Congratulations on passing, Naruto..." Iruka said, still maintaining that smile on his face "... You are now a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato."

"Hurray!" Naruto said, as he jumped and hugged Iruka.

Iruka returned the hug, and said- "How about we get some ramen after this is done, Naruto? Treat's on me!"

"It's a deal!" Naruto shouted. He was not one to say no to ramen.

"OK, then, wait outside, at the academy gates. Get going now, There are a few more students who are to take the test! I'll be there as soon as we are done here." Iruka said, and watched Naruto release the hug and run outside, after saying "see ya later!", all the while keeping that huge grin on his face.

Inside the seal, Kurama was smiling (slightly), lying down with his eyes closed. _**'Of course you passed, gaki... I knew that you would pass...'**_ Kurama thought to himself... However... his smile was short-lived... He could sense the hatred emitting from a certain silver-haired academy instructor... This was not good...

Mizuki was having a bad day today. First, the demon brat survives the incident in the morning, and now, he passes! This was not how he planned things... Now he had to ...take drastic measures... To kill the demon once and for all...

* * *

Naruto could barely contain his joy. He was maniacally grinning away as he swung away on the swing in front of the academy gates. He could see a lot of students outside the academy gates with their parent(s), who were also very glad that they passed... however, the adults were giving dirty looks for Naruto... after all, they were not too happy that the demon brat had passed... and Naruto didn't give a shit. He was too happy to even spare a second to think about the looks he was receiving... He was busy planning out his shinobi career...

' _I'll become a Chuunin within a month, a Jounin in six months, and then, before the year ends, I will become the Hokage!'_

It was in the middle of this that Iruka joined Naruto.

On seeing Iruka, Naruto's joy was supercharged. After all, for today, Iruka = (free ramen + happiness)^2!

"Iruka-sensei! You are here! Now Let's go get some ramen!" Naruto excitedly shouted.

However, Iruka did not have a smile on his face... Not because he was worried about his poor wallet... but because of something else... He said- "I am sorry Naruto, but we can't do that now..."

Naruto's smile turned into a frown. He was looking forward to the ramen. He asked- "But why?"

"Well, some of the council members are concerned about the 'incident' which happened during your fight with Sasuke..." Iruka said grimly. "...so, I have to take you to them to have you... inspected..."

Naruto groaned and facepalmed. _'Of course they had to ruin my day... Well... At least they allowed me to participate in the exam...'_ Naruto thought to himself. He had been half expecting something like this, because, after all, the Hokage didn't check the seal or something...

"Now, follow me Naruto... This won't take too long..." Iruka said, his face smiling again.

"Alright Iruka-sensei..." Naruto said without any enthusiasm.

This was going to be really boring.

If only he knew how wrong he was...

* * *

Naruto was feeling really nervous... Something was really off... Iruka was acting really weird ever since they set off to meet the council... Something just felt... off... and even more worrying was their current location- In the middle of the forest. When Naruto asked why they were going to a forest, Iruka said that the forest had a secret meeting place for the council...

Presently, 15 minutes into their journey, he was right behind Iruka, walking at a brisk pace... When all of a sudden, Iruka's kunai pouch fell to the ground, scattering it's contents on the grassy forest floor.

"Oops! I am getting really careless nowadays" Iruka said as he knelt to pick up his equipment. He then said- "Naruto, why don't you walk on ahead? Just walk straight, and I will catch up to you in no time!"

All of Naruto's instincts were screaming at him to stop... but what could he do? If he stopped, he would be confirming that he was suspicious of 'Iruka', and then, 'Iruka' would surely do whatever he was planning to do, on that instant... and something told Naruto that whatever he had planned wasn't anything good... So, he decided to walk ahead...

He walked and walked, first 5 feet, then 10, then 15... all the while listening to the 'cling-clang' sound of metal, as 'Iruka' picked up his equipment... and then, when Naruto was about 30 feet from Iruka... the sounds suddenly stopped... And he heard a distinctive 'poof' sound...

Naruto's heart was on overdrive. Adrenaline rushed through his systems. Whatever 'Iruka' was going to do, it was going to be now... Naruto prepared to **Kawarimi**...

All of a sudden, Naruto heard the sound of something flying towards him...

He then yelled " **Kawarimi no Jutsu**!" and he was instantly substituted with... 'Iruka'.

The object that was flying towards him was a fuuma shuriken... which was now embedded on 'Iruka's' back. All of a sudden, 'Iruka' was covered in a cloud of white smoke, accompanied by another 'poof'.

When the smoke cleared, Naruto was able to see who 'Iruka' actually was...

"Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto yelled. He could instantly recognise the silver hair and the bandana on his head.

Mizuki slowly turned around. He wasn't gravely injured. Apparently, Chuunin vests offer some serious protection to your torso. Mizuki then said, with a weak voice- "Well, well, looks like the demon has mastered the seal-less **Kawarimi**... Good... It will make killing you all the more satisfying!"

Naruto was feeling extremely tense... He was up against a Chuunin! Although Mizuki was injured, Naruto also had a handicap- that Kawarimi cost him a big chunk of his chakra...

' _Wait! Why am I even worrying about chakra when I have a chakra powerhouse in my stomach?'_ Naruto thought, as he began drawing out Kurama's chakra.

Naruto's eyes turned red, his nails and teeth grew big and sharp, especially his canines, and the whisker marks on his face became thicker, to give him a really feral look.

"I see... Living up to your name there... Demon!" Mizuki taunted. He may appear to be real brave on the outside now, but inside, he was pissing in his pants. After all, he knew how powerful the Kyuubi was... And judging by what he was seeing, Naruto could already use the Kyuubi's power by will.

Mizuki was actually hoping that what happened during the taijutsu round was a fluke, and he was trying to kill Naruto before he got too strong... but apparently, he is too late...

"Say goodnight." Naruto said before he threw a kunai at Mizuki.

Having a really big fuuma shuriken lodged on his back, Mizuki was not able to move fast... But he saw that the kunai was not going to hit his head anyway, so he didn't even bother to dodge.

Mizuki then said, as the kunai was flying past his head- "Haha, you mis-" Mizuki was cut off by a really painful punch to the left side of his jaw.

' _How did he... Oh..._ _ **Kawarimi**_ _...'_ Mizuki thought as he fell sideways to the grassy forest floor.

And before he got up Naruto was already on him and... Well, let's just say that the end result was a battered and unconscious Mizuki.

As Naruto, who was now out of the chakra supercharged mode, was preparing to carry Mizuki back, to the Hokage, when he saw a figure approaching him...

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted out, as he jumped up to him and gave him a real tight hug.

"Naruto..." Iruka said, looking at the blond, and he also saw the battery Mizuki lying on the forest floor. "I am glad that you are all right." He said, smiling.

"Where were you, Iruka-sensei? You won't believe what happened here! Mizuki-sensei came to me disguised as you and tried to kill me, but I taught him a good lesson for messing with me!"

Iruka, who was just really happy, now that he knew his favourite student was still alive, said-"I knew that you would Naruto... As for me, I was caught up in some paperwork..."

He was literally caught up in paperwork. Mizuki had somehow managed to trap him with a lot of fly paper ( **a/n-** don't ask me how. He somehow got caught in it. End of story.). (No, no, no! The story isn't over yet! There is still lot's to come!)

"Alright Naruto, why don't we go get some ramen?"

"Hooray!"

"...after we turn in Mizuki."

"Aww..."

* * *

Phew! Chapter complete!

And now, I will answer some questions...

1-Why the **** were you so late?

A-Well... Umm there are quite a few reasons... my vacations are over, I've got a lot of work to do, I've got to catch up with me anime... and above all... **Laziness no Jutsu**... (T-T) Well... At least I improved the chapter length...

2-How the **** can Naruto perform the **Bunshin no Jutsu?**

A-Due to better chakra control, due to the tree walking exercise, and, years of training to perform a Jutsu seal-lessly

3-What happened to the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**?

A-Well... No spoilers! Muahahahaha!

4-How did Iruka find Naruto?

A-The same way he did in cannon.

5-What came first? The chicken or the egg?

A-Hmm... I think it's the egg... Wait a minute! This is really off topic! Q/A session over!

And now, it is your turn to answer the questions, dear reader! Now tell me...

1-How was the chapter?

2-How is the story so far?

3-Did I forget something? If yes, what?

4-Do you have any suggestions? If yes, what? (No promises that I will introduce it though:P)

5-Why did the chicken cross the road?

Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n-** Ah! I feel like such a horrible person right now... I have taken an unacceptable amount of time to update one small chapter of my story! I am really sorry for the delay... as always. I can't believe how lazy I have become... from posting a chapter in 3 days to taking more than a month to update...

Anyway, I am posting this chapter a bit shorter than I planned to have it, but if I take any longer, I guess you may think that I abandoned this fanfic... which will never happen! Next time onwards, if I take more than 2 weeks to update, someone just PM me to get my lazy ass to work! Sometimes, all I need is someone to tell me what to do...

OK, now let's get on with the chapter!

 **Konoha's Orange Maelstrom**

 **Chapter 11**

Naruto was feeling really excited now, walking through the corridors of the academy, sporting his brand new, shiny hitai-ate. Today was a day to remember. Today was the day that Naruto get's assigned to a 4 man squad, complete with a Jounin sensei.

Naruto couldn't wait to get his Jounin sensei. Based on what Kurama said, a Jounin sensei is a badass shinobi who teaches you all kinds of cool Jutsu. Even as he thought about this, a grin escaped Naruto's lips. After all, you need a badass sensei if you want to be the Hokage!

Naruto was now in front of the door to his classroom, where he would be sitting for one last time... He slid the door open, and, guess what he saw? The usual- A classroom where almost everyone was busy talking, and Ino and Sakura fighting for the seat next to Sasuke... who was, as usual, brooding while staring outside through the window he was sitting next to. Naruto could understand his logic of sitting next to the window- he had a nice view of the outside world (classes tend to get boring when you are a genius like Sasuke) and, only one fangirl could sit next to him. What Naruto could still not understand after all those years in the academy was, why are all the girls fan-girling over Sasuke? Sure, he may have good looks, and killer skills, but seriously, don't they know when to call it quits? That guy never showed even a bit of interest in them! And they are still fighting for him!

However, when everyone caught sight of Naruto, the class immediately became noisier, with shouts of astonishment, and Ino, who was facing the side of the classroom where Naruto entered, stopped fighting, and pointed at Naruto. Sakura, seeing Ino stop fighting, turned around to see what the matter was, and just stared at Naruto, mouth wide open, like most of the people in the classroom.

Naruto was feeling real nervous now. The 'Kekkai-Genkai' incident was still the hot topic in the academy. However, judging by the way everyone was staring at him, he was going to have a real hard time making any friends when he gets his teammates... So, in order to prevent that, Naruto decided to break the ice-

"What are you people staring at? Have I grown a tail or something?"

This was followed by dead silence for a few seconds... everyone seemed... confused?

Finally, someone spoke up- "Well, actually, yes..."

"Wait! What the-" Naruto said as he turned around to look at his back... and he saw it... an orange, furry tail sprouting out of his pants!

"NOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

"NOOOOOOOO!"- A scream echoed through the almost quiet classroom, as Naruto quickly sat up on his seat, eyes wide open, and hyperventilating.

Everyone in the classroom turned their heads towards Naruto, including Mr. 'too-cool-for-you' Sasuke.

"Why are you screaming in the middle of my lecture Naruto?!" Iruka shouted.

Naruto quickly stood up and turned around to look at his butt... and he found no tail!

' _Oh... It was just a dream... phew! Now what do I tell Iruka-sensei?'_

"Umm... Iruka-sensei, I... umm.. kinda, y'know umm.. I fell asleep and saw a nightmare..." Naruto said, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Can't you be serious just for once, at least on my last lecture for you, Naruto?" Iruka asked, annoyed and disappointed.

"Eh eh.. sorry about that..." Naruto said in a really unapologetic tone.

"Fine... sit down Naruto... now where was I... ah, yes, the lecture is over, moving on to the team assignments..."

Naruto immediately diverted all of his attention to Iruka. This was something he did NOT want to miss, unlike Iruka's sleep-inducing boring lecture.

Iruka called out the teams and their corresponding members and Jounin sensei, one by one by one. As far as Naruto was concerned, everyone from Team 1 to Team 6 were people he didn't really know well. However, it all changed when Iruka called out the members of Team 7...

"Uchiha Sasuke..."

' _I pity the guys on his team.'_ Naruto thought

"...Haruno Sakura..."

' _Correction- I reeaaally pity the guy on his team.'_ Naruto thought as he watched Sakura, who happened to be sitting right between Naruto and Sasuke, jump from her seat, shouting "hurray" while almost all the girls in the class, especially Ino, grumbled at this.

"...and Uzumaki Naruto. You are assigned to Team 7, and your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Naruto was now standing next to the window, staring out of his classroom, waiting for his Jounin sensei to come, along with Sasuke, Sakura, Team 8 and Team 10, the former including Shino, Hinata and Kiba, and the latter including Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji.

He was still having a hard time believing this, and was desperately trying to wake up from the nightmare. Out of everyone else, why did he have to be stuck with Sakura and Sasuke? If it were Sakura alone, then fine, no harm done, but why Sasuke AND Sakura? He could barely tolerate the Uchiha alone, and add his fangirl to that, and it is like multiplying the square of their annoyingness together! (And the value of their annoyance is greater than 1)

However, there was one silver-lining to this situation- his Jounin sensei – The legendary Sharingan no Kakashi! Naruto had heard of Kakashi from Kurama, about how Kakashi was the student of the Yondaime, lost his teammates, joined the ANBU at a really young age, watched over Naruto's mother when she was pregnant, and just how badass he was. There was no one else he would rather have as a sensei! Naruto couldn't wait to learn all of those cool Jutsu his new sensei would teach!

Naruto wondered if having Kakashi as his Jounin sensei was worth the price of having Sasuke-teme and Sakura as his teammates... He looked back into the classroom and stared at them- Sasuke, brooding like always, and Sakura, fangirling like always.

' _No, definitely not worth it.'_ Naruto thought. _'What was jiji even thinking when he put all of us into the same team? He must be going senile... Speaking of jiji, I wonder what happened to Konohamaru...? I hope he is training hard! After all he is my rival!'_

Meanwhile, inside the sewer seal, a usually lazy Kurama was feeling really excited-

 _ **'Just as I thought! The Uchiha gaki, Pinky, and that Kakashi are on the same team as Naruto... You are getting really predictable... Sarutobi Hiruzen... This should be interesting...'**_ Kurama thought as he closed his eyes to 'sleep'.

Back with Naruto, he was getting really restless, pacing along the width of the classroom. All 3 of the remaining Jounin sensei were running late. How unprofessional!

Finally, the sliding door opened to reveal a bearded man, smoking weed. He wore the standard Konoha Jounin outfit plus a cloth with the kanji for fire on it visible below his waist, and he was, unmistakably, one of their Jounin sensei... the question was, whose...

He said- "Team 10, please follow me. I am your Jounin sensei Sarutobi Asuma."

Naruto watched as the members of team 10 got up from their seats and followed their new sensei out of the classroom. As they left, Naruto heard the unmistakable voice of our favourite lazy ass- "What a drag..."

Moments after Team 10 left, the door opened again, this time revealing a woman dressed in a white... toilet paper dress? No, wait, that was not paper. OK, make that- a woman wearing a white dress that looked like it was made up of bandages... Naruto really couldn't understand fashion these days. (of course, this comes from a genin who wears neon orange jacket and pants everyday)

On the other hand Sasuke got a real big shock when he saw another feature of the woman- red eyes! He thought- _'Is that a sharingan? Did Itachi screw up and spare her? Or maybe she stole the Sharingan from an Uchiha! No, wait, that is not a sharingan! It has no tomoe in it! ...or is it a mutation of some sort? ...nah!'_

See? This is why Sasuke never talks. He thinks so much about even the most trivial of matters, that if he talked about this, he would be talking more than Kurama in lecture mode! And, if he told anyone about what he was thinking about when he was brooding (aka- the numerous ways in which he is going to brutally kill Uchiha Itachi (dream on Sasuke!)), most of the academy graduates would have a hard time holding onto their lunch. (another side effect of this would be that he would be labelled 'crazy' (like a lot of us labelled canon Sasuke as 'crazy' for a short period))

However, as of now, no one knew what was going on in young Sasuke's mind, and the woman who was the source of Sasuke's thoughts spoke up- "Team 8, please follow me. I am your Jounin sensei Yuuhi Kurenai."

Again, Naruto watched the members of team 8 get up from their seats and follow their new sensei out of the class. As they left, he heard an annoying voice, unmistakably Kiba's- "So long suckers!"

Thus really ticked Naruto off- why did their sensei have to be the last to come? He expected the legendary Sharingan no Kakashi to be much more punctual than this!

After that, an hour passed, then another, and then another...

Naruto felt really frustrated now, and so did Sasuke and Sakura, though they were doing a much better job of keeping their frustration in check. Sasuke, who was the least bothered by this, just kept on replaying his future encounter with Itachi in his mind. As for Sakura, who appeared calm on the outside, she was actually planning how she is going to spend her time with Sasuke... in her mind she was planning out their first date, kiss, marriage, and, umm... I don't think I want to go into too much detail about this one. (I don't want to get this fanfic M rated!)

And just as Naruto was about to snap and do something stupid, the door finally opened, to reveal a man wearing a mask, and wearing his hitai-ate in such a way that it covered his left eye, and the only visible part of his face was his right eye, and a small area surrounding it. He had spiky, silver hair, and wore the standard Konoha Jounin outfit. There was no mistaking it- this was the legendary...

"Sharingan no Kakashi!" Naruto shouted.

On hearing this, Sasuke got the biggest shock in his life since the Uchiha massacre- _'Did he just say 'Sharingan'? Is this guy an Uchiha that survived the massacre because Itachi screwed up? Or did he steal the Sharingan from an Uchiha? Wait, does he even have a sharingan? Was Naruto just lying?'_

On the other hand, Kakashi was quite surprised that Naruto knew his nickname. While it was true that he was very famous for his left eye, one of the last in existence, there was no reason for a academy graduate to know about that!

Kakashi's momentarily let go of that chain of thought and said- "The three of you- meet me at the rooftop." and Kawarimied out of sight.

Left alone to gather his thoughts on the rooftop, Kakashi thought to himself- _'Hmm... that was sensei's son... Uzumaki Naruto... Now how does he know of my nickname...?'_ That was when a brainwave hit him- _'Of course! The fox must have told him about me! After all, Sensei's wife was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi!'_

So... how does Kakashi know of Kurama's friendship with Naruto?

 _Flashback_

Kakashi was now standing in Naruto's apartment room, with non other than the Hokage himself. They were standing next to Naruto's dining table.

"So this is Naruto's house..." Kakashi said, while his eyes scoured the house.

"Sasuke, the kid from the Uchiha clan is also in your group. I wish you luck..." The Hokage lowered his voice and said- "Kakashi, what I am going to tell you is going to be an S-rank secret. Do not tell anyone of what I am going to tell you.."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Kakashi said, the usual Laziness in his eyes disappearing.

"This matter is concerning one of your students- Uzumaki Naruto..."

' _Sensei's son? I wonder if this is something about the Kyuubi...'_

"...If you think that this is something about the Kyuubi, then you are right..." Hiruzen said, still maintaining his lowered voice. "... The fact is that, Naruto appears to have forged a friendship with the fox a couple of years ago..."

Kakashi's eye widened at this. _'Naruto becoming friends with the Kyuubi? That does not_ sound _good... Maybe the-'_

Kakashi's thoughts were cut off by Hiruzen's voice- "Before you jump to any conclusions, let me have you know that the Kyuubi has once saved Naruto's life, and it appears that his loyalty lies firmly with Naruto... though it is not impossible that the fox is trying to manipulate Naruto, for the moment, it is best if we observe what happens, and take action according to it."

Hiruzen was about to dismiss Kakashi, when he remembered one last thing he had to tell Kakashi- "Ah, and the name is Kurama."

"Pardon?"

"The fox's name... It's Kurama..."

 _End Flashback_

All the members of Team 7 were now assembled at the roof-top, with Kakashi sitting on the railing, and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sitting in front of him.

"Now, let us start by introducing ourselves to each other..." Kakashi said.

"But sensei, how should we introduce ourselves?" asked a very curious Sakura.

"Well..." Kakashi lazily responded "things like your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams..."

"Why don't you start first, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Well..." Kakashi said as he rubbed his chin- "My name is Hatake Kakashi, there are many things I like and dislike, and I don't feel like sharing my hobbies... as for my dreams... it's non of your business"

' _All we go_ t _to know of him was his name!'_ Naruto and Sakura simultaneously thought. However, before either of them could point this out, Kakashi pointed at Naruto and said- "Your turn."

Without skipping a beat, Naruto excitedly said- "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are ramen, training, and hanging out with my best friend! My dislikes are the 3 minutes I have to wait for cup ramen to be ready, and having to sit idle! And my dream..." Naruto deliberately paused for a second, for that 'dramatic' effect. "... Is to become the Hokage!"

' _Interesting...'_ Kakashi noted _'Looks like the boy likes to dream big...'_

"Okay, you next!" Kakashi said, looking towards Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura." Sakura started her introduction, of which this is the only meaningful sentence. "My likes are... I mean the person I like is..." Sakura looked at Sasuke, blushing and squealing. After a few moments , she continued- "... and my dream is..." she looked at Sasuke again, and squealed even louder this time.

' _I think I know what her dream is...'_ Kakashi thought as he recalled the numerous umm... shall we say... 'scenes' in the Icha-Icha books he had been reading.

Kakashi shook of his perverse thoughts as he caught one thing Sakura forgot...

"And dislikes?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto!" Sakura said without even having to think about it.

 _'Of everything in the world, why me?'_ A very hurt Naruto thought to himself.

 _'Looks like girls of her age have only love in mind...'_ Kakashi assumed. Then, he said, looking at Sasuke "Okay, you are next."

Sasuke, who had been sitting there the whole time with his fingers interlocked in front of his face, as if he had been plotting to do something really hideous, said- "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything, and there are lots of things I hate... and as for my dream... it is to kill a certain man... and it is not going to be left as a dream... I will turn it into reality!"

 _'hmm... I wonder who this 'man' is... I hope it is not me!'_ Naruto thought.

 _'Sasuke-kun is so cool!'_ Sakura thought, as she squealed in her mind.

' _hmm... just as I expected... that incident must still be fresh in his mind...'_ Kakashi analysed.

As the introductions came to an end, Kakashi decided to get on with the business...

"Okay team, now we can do our first mission tomorrow."

"Hooray!" Naruto shouted, with his arms up in the air.

Sakura was also excited, as she would get to spend more time with her Sasuke-kun.

Even Sasuke was looking forward to the mission! After all, even being mentally scarred by seeing your family being murdered in front of you was not going to stop someone from feeling excited about his first mission!

However, Kakashi decided to play spoilsport right when things were looking good for team 7...

"Oh, but what we are going to do tomorrow is not some ordinary mission... It is survival training!"

Sakura's face lost a lot of the happiness seen on her face a few moments ago.

 _'Survival training... that does not sound good...'_

Meanwhile, Naruto's and Sasuke's face had a confident smirk on their face. Because, after all there was nothing that Sasuke and Naruto wanted more than getting stronger... and guess how you get stronger? Exactly. By training...

It was right now that Kakashi decided to commence phase-2 of operation spoilsport-

"Oh, and by survival training, I don't mean some ordinary training. It is actually a test with a drop-out rate of 66% to see whether you are qualified to become genin... and those who fail will be sent back to the academy!"

After they got rushed by the information sent their way, the rookies, for the first time in the day, felt fear.

However, before they had time to react, Kakashi sent another information bomb their way- "Meet me at training ground 7 at 5am tomorrow, with necessary gear. You will get more details there... and yeah, don't eat breakfast... or else, you will throw up!"

This further worsened the fear in the rookies' mind-

 _'Just what kind of violent test is he going to put us through? I really hope that I... no... I will pass!'_

 _'Oh no! I could get separated from Sasuke-kun! There is no way I will fail! After all, this is a trail of true love!'_

' _pfft! There is no way I am going to fail... right?'_

Meanwhile, inside the sewer seal, a certain fox was snoozing away.

* * *

Okay folks, so this is the end of the chapter... I know it is pretty short for how long I took to write it, but please bear with me just this time!

So... The teams are all the same as in canon... and, yes, I know, Kurama didn't make much of an appearance this time, which is a shame.

Also, you may have noticed that I skipped some parts of the story, like the meeting with Konohamaru... well, the reason why I did that was because there were not many things I could have changed in that meeting, and, if I wrote the exact canon incident, it would be boring, both for you and me... however, this doesn't mean that I will be skipping crucial parts of the story like this.

And, sorry if my writing skills git a bit rusty... picking up from where I left a month ago didn't go that smooth...

P.S. If you become tired of waiting, just remember- PM me to get my lazy ass to work!


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